Six years to life
by Laume
Summary: Another kidfic! Snape is revealed as a spy and Voldemort tries to make him see the error of his ways by turning him into a six year old and sending him back to Hogwarts. Meanwhile, Harry escapes the Dursleys...
1. Chapter 1

Black-robed figures stood in a half-circle, watching the pale, snakelike man in the centre.

The braver Death Eaters had occasionally wondered why they were always left standing in meetings while their Dark Lord sat comfortably on a throne-like chair. Severus Snape was among those.

He patiently waited while Voldemort went through the usual ritual of listening to progress reports, and throwing curses when he heard something he didn't like. Finally, it was over. Or so he thought.

"Severus Snape," the Dark Lord said, with a grim smile, "Approach me. On your knees."

Flinching inwardly, Hogwarts' Potions Master obeyed.

"You," the Dark Lord said, "Are a spy for Albus Dumbledore. No," he held up his hand, "No point in denying it. What I want to know is why? Why you left my ranks, and betrayed your fellows? Why you abandoned all the power I gave you?"

Snape scowled. The game was up, and he knew it. He expected to be dead soon. No point in holding back.

"Because you are a murdering hypocritical half-blood bastard. What power have you given us, except to grovel at your feet?" he stood up and raised his chin defiantly.

"Look around you. Malfoy, Nott, pureblood names that once stood for proud, independent families, and look at what became of them! Murdering scum, kissing the hem of your robes just to prevent being tortured. I saw my mistake early on. I haven't been yours for nearly twenty years now."

The Death Eaters gasped while the Dark Lord's eyes shone with anger and malice.

"And look what it brought you. I will make you an example. No, I will not kill you…yet. I will give you the opportunity to see how wrong you were in the side you chose."

Snape stood up proud when the silvery light hurled towards him from the Dark Lords wand. Pain wracked his body and he felt himself shrink. It lasted only seconds before he lost consciousness.

"Get up, you brat," was the first he heard.

He opened his eyes. Towering above him were three scary people in black robes. He swallowed. Death Eaters, he knew. Mother had told him about them.

Strong hands grabbed him and he felt the painful sensation of being apparated by someone at best mediocre in the skill.

They had ended up in a forest. A very scary forest. He had a wicked headache and his entire body hurt, but he knew better then to complain.The Death Eater that was apparently in charge smacked him in the head and threw him to the forest floor.

"Best of luck to you, Snape. I hope something vile eats you."

With that, the three disappeared and he was alone in the forest.

With no choice left, he started walking. And walking. Hours later, he was completely lost, even though dawn was approaching fast, the forest was still dark and he was thirsty.

"Snapes do not cry," he remembered his fathers voice, "They take what is dealt to them."

Of course, the one doing most of the dealing was his father himself.

He shivered, wondering how angry his parents would be when he got home.

"What are you doing here, young foal?" a voice behind him suddenly asked.

He startled, his magic accidentally flying out of control and hitting the…thing…behind him. The thing wasn't in the least bit upset by it, but merely brushed off the unintentional hex.

"Ah, a wizard child. I sense you have been here before. Come here, foal."

He wasn't sure if this…a centaur, he realized, was trustworthy, but he would surely die on his own and the creature didn't seem hostile. He took a tentative step towards the huge man-horse.

The centaur studied him intently and then his eyes widened.

"Tell me your name, foal. For I fear a foal is not what you were until recently."

"My name is Severus Snape," he said bravely.

The centaur nodded. "I feared as much. I must return you to Albus Dumbledore as soon as possible."

"Dumbledore? The barmy old coot that is Headmaster of Hogwarts? Why are you taking me to him?"

The centaur looked down on him gravely.

"That is for the Headmaster to explain. Come, I will let you ride on my back. It is over an hour to Hogwarts, even galloping, and I fear your small legs won't hold out that long."

"I am NOT small," Severus exclaimed indignantly.

"To me, you are," the centaur said, hoisting him on his back. "Hold on tight, we will be making some haste."

Dumbledore was pacing his office impatiently, waiting for his spy to return when Hagrid entered.

"P'fesser Dumbledore, sir! You better come quick. Firenze is at the front door and he has…well. You best come see."

Curious, Dumbledore followed Hagrid to the doors where Firenze was waiting with a sleeping black bundle on his back.

"A child?" Dumbledore enquired mildly.

"Yes," said the centaur, leaving it to Hagrid to gently lift the child from his back. The robes fell back to reveal a pale face and long black hair.

"I found him deep in the Forest. From what little I know of human foals I would guess he is about five or six years old now."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Now?"

Firenze stamped his hoof impatiently. "Yes, now. From what I've gathered from watching the mind of the boy, he was found out as a spy earlier tonight. This, headmaster, is Severus Snape."

Hagrid nearly dropped the child, but composed himself and held the black bundle tightly.

Dumbledore stared at the child's face dumbfounded.

"This…Severus?"

"He was found out," Firenze nodded, "Although he does not remember it. This is Voldemort's idea of punishment. His adult mind is still in there, but suppressed. He is a young foal now. Well, I will leave him in your care, headmaster. Goodnight."

With that, the centaur galloped off in the direction of the Forest. Hagrid shifted the boy a bit so he was laying more comfortably in his arms.

"Li'l tyke's gonna need a bed, headmaster," Hagrid prompted.

Dumbledore looked up, twinkle gone from his eyes. "What? Oh, yes, yes, you are right. It's too cold for him here, too. Take him to the infirmary, if you please, Hagrid. I will send a note to Filius, Minerva and Pomona in the morning and we'll see if we can find a remedy."

It was a strange room, although the bed was nice and comfortable. There were lots of other beds too. Had his father put him in hospital again? But no, nothing was hurting. He'd been having a nice dream, too, about riding on the back of a centaur…a centaur…

He bolted upright.

The centaur had taken him here! He was at Hogwarts, the Headmaster would have contacted his parents by now…he was in SO much trouble.

Shivering, he pulled his knees up to his chin and drew the blankets around himself.

"Ah, you are awake," a female voice said briskly, "you'll be wanting breakfast, I think."

Before Severus could respond, a tray appeared.

"You can get up and dressed, but don't leave the room. I believe the Headmaster and the Heads of Houses wish to see you after breakfast."

The woman disappeared into an office.

Severus climbed off the bed and pulled on his robe that was folded on the chair next to the bed. Then he inspected the tray: a bowl of hot oatmeal, scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. A glass of juice. His eyes widened. He was never allowed to eat this much at home.

Frowning, he discarded the bacon. Ever since father had forced him to drink mothers potions, he had been unable to eat heavy foods without severe pain and vomiting. The eggs would do if he didn't eat too much, the oatmeal was ok too. He drank some juice and buttered a piece of toast. Alternating between bites of toast and spoonful of oatmeal, he managed more then he had ever eaten before. About half a bowl of oatmeal and a piece of toast. He did drink all of the juice.

"You need to eat more," said the woman, a nurse apparently, who stepped out of her office again, "you are underweight for your age. "Drink this." She held out a vial.

Severus stared at it.

"Come on, drink it," the nurse said impatiently.

Severus stubbornly closed his mouth. She was NOT going to make him drink it. He remembered the intense pain after the last time he was made to drink one and he did not want a repeat.

"Come on, you brewed it yourself."

That did not inspire confidence. He had to help mother brew, but the things she made him brew were definitely not healing potions. He panicked and picking up the tray, he threw it through the room, where it landed in front of the feet of a very old wizard, who had just entered, with two women and a very tiny man, barely taller then Severus himself.

"Well, well, what a temper so early in the morning," the man said, waving his wand to make the mess disappear.

Severus shivered. Surely he would be very severely punished now.

He stood up straight, shoulders squared, as his father had taught him to do when he was about to be punished.

The old wizard took his arm.

"We will have none of your antics, young man," he said sternly, "There are more important things to do."

With that, he was escorted to the bed. Severus squirmed a bit, surprised. The hand grasping his upper arm was holding him firmly, but did not hurt, nor was he dragged forcefully through the room.

"Up, on the bed," the old wizard said. He looked tired, as if he hadn't slept in weeks, Severus noticed.

He knew he would most likely be smacked for asking questions, but he had to know.

"Where am I? What happened?"

One of the witches, the shortest one, with a kind face, stepped forward.

"You are at Hogwarts, Severus. Firenze found you in the forest, do you remember that?"

He nodded. "He let me ride on his back after the black men left."

"Black men?" the other witch questioned. Severus felt a bit uncertain. She looked very stern.

"They wore black robes and masks," he said timidly, "I remember waking up, and they took me to the Forest and left me there."

"Do you know who they were?" the witch asked.

"Death Eaters," he said before he could stop himself. His eyes widened and he clasped his hand over his mouth.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm not supposed to talk about them. Please don't tell my parents," he begged the kind looking witch.

"It's ok, Severus," she said, patting his hand, "We already suspected that. But do you not remember what happened before you woke up and were taken to the forest?"

Severus shook his head.

"I don't know," he said, bowing his head, "I don't remember. Last I remember is Father being angry with me, and then waking up."

Dumbledore sighed.

"We do need the information from last night," he said, "to see what Tom has planned. Severus, look at me."

The boy looked up into the blue eyes. He gasped as he felt something…someONE entering his mind, and he tried to do what his mother had taught him, and throw up the walls in his mind. The force retreated a bit, surprised, but then it simply pushed his walls aside.

Severus screamed. A few minutes later, he lay panting on the bed, shaking from the intrusion.

"Really, Albus!" the other three professors were saying, "That was uncalled for. He is only a child! You could at least have explained what you were going to do."

"I had to catch him at unawares, to make sure I'd reach his suppressed adult memories," the headmaster said, rubbing his temples, "I forgot he already knew Occlumency when he came to school. It seems he's in the practicing stages right now. He can put up walls, but not very strong ones. Had he not done that, it wouldn't have caused him pain."

"If you had TOLD him what you were going to do he would not have put them up!" Flitwick squeaked indignantly.

Severus had managed to sit up again and glared angrily at the headmaster.

"Mother was right, you are a nasty, mean old man," he spat out.

The headmaster ignored him, but McGonagall looked at him with interest.

"Your mother said that?"

"She hated school," Severus said dispassionately, "She was always bullied by the other children. She says she wants me to go to Bobotons or Dumstrang," he wrestled with the foreign names, "I think she wants me to go to the one in France. She is making me learn French. I don't want to be here, I think Mother would be angry that the nice centaur brought me here."

The four stared at the young Potions Master, wondering how the young man had ended up going to Hogwarts after all.

McGonagall grimaced. Eileen had been quite correct in her reluctance to let her son attend Hogwarts. He had been bullied.

"Severus," she said, "We need to do some tests, to see if anyone has put some hexes or curses on you. It won't hurt, we're only going to point our wands at you to scan. It might tickle a bit."

Severus nodded.

The four raised their wands and together cast a number of spells.

Then they moved to the other side of the room to compare notes.

"I'm afraid this is not something easily remedied, Albus," said Flitwick, "The charm is very strong and very complicated. Simply reversing the spell might kill him."

The headmaster nodded. "Tom used some ancient magic and twisted it, from what I could tell from Severus' memories. It used to be an old healing spell, used to give traumatized people a second chance at childhood, but it only lasted a certain period of time, no more then a few months. From what I can tell, this charm has no limit."

Minerva nodded. "I agree. Unless we find a safe way to reverse the spell, he will remain six years old."


	2. Chapter 2

Severus walked around the castle, brooding.He had been released from the infirmary; there was nothing really wrong with him after all. He had known that already. The short witch with the kind face…Sprout, was her name. He felt a bit sorry for her that she was named for such a yucky vegetable.

Professor Sprout had told him he could walk around the castle and had showed him to his room, but she was going away. It was the start of the summer holidays, she had said, and there would be no one left in the castle except the stern looking witch and the headmaster.

Hagrid would be staying too, but he spent most of his days in the forest.

The stern witch really wasn't that bad, he had decided. She was strict, but not mean and she had defended him when the headmaster had attacked his mind. She hadn't used curses or hexes to punish him, either.

In fact, he'd seen very little of either headmaster or professor McGonagall for the two days he had been here, apart from their meeting in the infirmary. A house elf would bring him meals in his room. He was told that the headmaster and professor ate in their own rooms alone, or together in the headmaster's room.

The portraits sometimes talked to him, but otherwise this place was really, really boring.

He had reached a dark corridor that led down, to what seemed to be the dungeons, in his wanderings. Curious, he followed it until he saw a wooden door.

A potions room with lots of worktables. "Oh wait; this must be where the students had Potions classes," he thought.

He didn't know who taught Potions, but whoever it was surely wasn't here, and no one else bothered with him.

He rummaged through the cupboards and found a stack of pewter cauldrons that would do very well. Entering the little room on the side, he found a wealth of ingredients.

Tapping the cauldron, he frowned. What would he brew?

Polyjuice was out. With so little people left, it was completely useless. Besides, he'd look like either the headmaster or professor McGonagall, and he had no wish to look so OLD.

Veritaserum? He shrugged. The headmaster had already used Legilimency on him, no doubt his own Veritaserum would be used on him.

Then again…mother HAD taught him to brew a variation to Veritaserum that forced the drinker to tell nothing but lies. He smiled. He had only brewn it once, it would be a nice challenge to try brewing it again.

All ingredients were there, on the high shelves. He dragged a chair from the classroom and managed to climb that, and the shelves, until he got all the ingredients he needed.

The water already boiled, and he started to prepare the ingredients, cutting them up as meticulously as Mother had instructed him. Of course, that she applied a whipping curse to his hands every time she was not pleased with the ingredients he'd prepared was a huge stimulus to do well.

He enjoyed brewing without the fear of having his hands whipped, and concentrated fully on his potion. He supposed he ought to feel bad for liking to brew without Mother near, but he couldn't. He only felt scared of what she and Father were going to do to him once he got back.

"SEVERUS SNAPE!" the booming voice of the headmaster startled him, just as he had finished.

"What are you doing? The wards around this place went crazy. I had to come all the way from my office to see if you were hurt and I find you here, brewing…what ARE you brewing?"

The old Wizard approached the cauldron and paled.

"This is a Dark potion," he nearly hissed, his blue eyes cold and angry.

Severus lowered his eyes.

"I was exploring and I found this place," he said softly, "I didn't mean to disobey…"

Dumbledore vanished the contents of the cauldron and grabbed his shoulder, pushing him out the door rather roughly.

"I see we can't leave you without a minder, then," the ancient wizard said, making Severus walk in front of him and pushing him to walk faster every so often until they reached his office.

Once in, Dumbledore shoved him to a desk in a corner of the room and put down a stack of parchment, a quill and ink.

"Sit," he ordered, "You will write lines. 'I will not use ingredients that are not mine to brew Dark Potions'."

"Not that I don't applaud your efforts to discipline the brat, Headmaster, but technically, he has not done that," the portrait of Phineas Nigellus said.

"Yes, yes, thank you, Phineas, I do remember that. How could I forget," the headmaster said, with an angry look at Severus.

What had he done wrong? He hadn't known he wasn't supposed to brew. This was a school, right? He had been trying to learn. And why was the headmaster always so ANGRY? Like he hated him? Father and Mother had been forced to put up with him, but the Headmaster could just send him home, right?

He picked up the quill and started his lines, his sensitive ears picking up Nigellus' comment "You know, headmaster, if you'd just give him a good caning so he won't even think of walking for the next couple of days…"

He shuddered. The headmaster's response was too soft to hear, but it sure didn't bode well.

Glancing at the headmaster from time to time, Severus wondered how the man could do so much work at once. Owls kept flying in and out, the pile of paperwork on the desk was huge, and several people floo'ed with various questions.

Dumbledore looked up suddenly to find the boy staring at him.

"Eyes on your work," he snapped.

"P..please sir," Severus pleaded, "I need…need to use the bathroom."

The man sighed in frustration.

"Very well, through that door. Be quick about it! No snooping around."

When Severus came back a minute or so later, he saw the headmaster talking to someone over the Floo.

"….seven dead…no warning at all….Aurors not in time…"

Dumbledore ended the call, but stayed kneeled on the carpet, his face in his hands.

Severus tentatively walked over.

"S…Sir? Are you…are you alright?" he asked.

He stepped back when the old man's head whipped up and he looked at him in disgust.

"How can I be alright when seven good people have DIED?" he yelled at the frightened child, "burned alive, from what accounts tell us! And it's your fault. You should have…" he checked himself.

"Get out," he said coldly, "Get out before I do something I will no doubt regret someday."

Severus didn't hesitate. He ran from the office.

Meanwhile, in Little Whinging, Surrey…

"BOY!"

Harry Potter sighed. He had long ago decided that his family probably qualified for the 'Most Obnoxious People In The World' top ten.

Of course, the list was headed by Voldemort, but his guardians were a close second.

Snape used to be solidly on the list, but Harry had started to have his doubts about that.

Snape was on their side. Sure, he was annoying. And biased and rude and…ok, maybe he had earned his third place on the list.

Dumbledore had managed to worm his way to fourth place, or even tying with Snape for third.

Harry had finally gotten the courage to tell the old man something about the Dursleys that explained why he didn't want to return there. The headmaster had smiled, offered him a lemon drop, and told him he had to go back anyway, offering no other explanation then what he had already said.

"It's safest, Harry," the boy angrily murmured to himself, "Never mind you getting murdered by your relatives instead of Voldemort, Harry. You must try harder to get along with them, Harry," he choked out the one sentence that had REALLY annoyed him.

"BOY! Get down here! NOW!" Vernon Dursley barked.

"No owls this summer," he continued, grinning happily, when Harry came down, "Guess your freak friends stopped caring about you, right?"

He backhanded Harry across the face.

"That means the old rules are up again, boy. Get to…WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT?" the man screeched.

Harry pointed his wand at his uncle. "What does it look like I'm doing?" he asked.

"You…you can't use that, you'll be expelled!" Vernon sputtered.

"The old rules mean that you will most likely beat me to death before school starts, making it pretty much a moot point, don't you think? Now, I will make you a deal," Harry said, his Slytherin side taking over.

"What…what deal?" Vernon said, purple with rage.

"A very beneficial one," Harry explained.

"I recently inherited some money from my late Godfather. I offer you ten thousand pounds in compensation for the…costs…you made to raise…oh well, the few pennies you spent for me living here. I am, after all, aware that you were forced into taking me."

"And…and the conditions?" Vernon asked, the purple receding from his face a bit as the thoughts of money penetrated his thick skull.

"The conditions are that you refuse to ever take me in again," he ignored Vernon's snort, "And that you try to hide the fact that I am gone for as long as possible. Yes, that means I am leaving. I have these papers for you to sign. I requested them from Gringotts. Sign these, and I will be emancipated and out of your hair forever."

Vernon Dursley scrambled up to get a pen as quickly as he could.

"I'm not staying here," Severus said to himself, angrily wiping a few tears from his cheeks.

"I am not staying here," Harry said, packing his trunk.

"I'm never going to come back here," the dark haired boys said.

That night, Severus Snape ran away from Hogwarts.

That night, Harry Potter left Privet Drive.


	3. Chapter 3

"You wait here," Harry told Vernon Dursley as the man parked the car outside the Leaky Cauldron.

"Where are you going, boy?" the man asked, wary.

"To get the money," Harry answered, "there is a way into the Wizarding World here. I didn't think you'd care to come."

Vernon paled and shook his head gruffly. "I'll stay here, then, but you'd better not…"

"I'll be back," Harry assured him, and walked into the Leaky Cauldron, pulling on his invisibility cloak.

It wasn't very busy, as it was still early in the morning. Harry quickly made his way down the long street and entered Gringotts.

"Hello," he said to the goblin at the counter, "I'd like to make a withdrawel, in both Muggle currency and Wizard money."

"That is certainly possible," the goblin said, "but if you want rather large amounts, you may wish to speak with your account manager. There are more…convenient ways to access large sums."

Harry nodded, and was led to Griphook's office.

"Goodday, Mr. Griphook," Harry said politely.

"Just Griphook please," the goblin said, "Now, I understand you wish to make a sizeable withdrawel?"

"I need 10,000 pounds in cash now," Harry said, "some more, I think, as I'm staying in the Muggle world for a while. I do need easy access to my vaults, though."

Griphook nodded.

"Your emancipation papers came through," he said, "which means you now have access not only to your trustfund, but also to your family vault. The Black vaults are also under your control. Furthermore," he added, smirking a bit, "you are no longer considered a minor by the Ministry."

Harry's eyes widened. "Sweet," he said, "no more restrictions for underage magic!"

"Exactly," the goblin nodded. "I have the tenthousand pounds you requested in this envelope," a brown envelope appeared on the table.

"And I requested a Muggle creditcard for you. It enables you to have the money taken straight from your vault, or you could use an ATM machine if you need cash."

"Thank you, Griphook. I was wondering, was my parent's house in Godric's Hollow ever rebuilt?"

"No. But your family, as well as Sirius Black, had other property scattered around England. Your parents were left an old house in York by your father's great aunt. She died three months before they did, so they never had the opportunity to investigate the place. There are two more houses…one a cottage in Kent, and the other a small bungalow near the Scottish border. I believe your grandfather had it built as a wedding gift for your grandmother. It is located in a rather remote area, since they used it to play Quidditch."

Harry's face lit with happiness. "A house with a Quidditch pitch? Oooh that is just AWESOME!"

Griphook frowned slightly at the youthful exhuberance Harry was displaying, but thought better of it and just smiled, perhaps remembering his own teen years.

"How do I get there?" Harry asked.

"Well, the house in Yorkshire can be reached by Muggle transportation. Your great-great aunt married a Muggle, so it is located in the Muggle part of town. The cottage in Kent and the bungalow can both be reached by portkey, which your parents left for you in the vault and I shall request up, but remember that a portkey may be traced."

Harry eyed the goblin warily.

"Don't worry, Mr Potter, your secrets are safe with us," Griphook smirked, "we don't report to anyone."

Nodding, Harry smiled as a necklace with two small silver pendants, a deer and a lily, appeared.

"Your father had these customized," Griphook said, "the deer takes you to the bungalow. The lily takes you to the cottage. They are charmed to recognize Potters. Should you ever desire to bring someone with you, they have to hold on to you, not the portkey."

"Thank you so much for your help," Harry said warmly, "Can I have 500 pounds in cash, please, I might not always be able to get to an ATM machine quickly when I need some."

"Certainly." Harry was readily presented with all he had asked.

"It was a pleasure, mr Potter. Good day."

Harry smiled. He was going to enjoy this holiday.

Vernon was still waiting outside.

"Here it is," Harry said, taking the passengers' seat, "10,000 pounds, as promised. Could you drop me off at the station on your way back?"

Vernon actually smiled at the sight of the money.

"Sure," he said, and looking at Harry intensely for a moment, he added, "Maybe you're not as bad as I thought you were, being, you know, one of them."

Harry shrugged. "You never wanted me, and I was dumped on your doorstep all the same by people disregarding both our opinions on the matter. We have no reason to like each other. I am certain we both prefer that this ends all contact between us. I would recommend that you move, though. Headmaster Dumbledore and most of his colleagues know where you live. There is a house in a village nearby that would suit you very well, I checked on the internet. You'd sell 4 Privet Drive for more then they're asking for this house, too. I got the folder."

Vernon Dursley nodded approvingly. "Sounds good. But since when are you suddenly concerned for our safety, boy?" he asked, with narrowed eyes.

"You are my last family," Harry said indifferently, "I don't like you, you don't like me, and I have no desire to ever see or talk to you again, but I do not wish you dead. Aunt Petunia will like this house; the garden is nice and well kept. Move quickly, and overnight, sometime next week. By the time they discover I did not move with you, if you keep my disappearance hidden well enough, I will be far away and you will be somewhere safe."

They had reached King's Cross.

"Well, have a good life, then," Harry said, and stepped out of the car, out of the Dursley's lives forever.

Harry figured he'd check out the house in York first. He contemplated visiting the York dungeons, but decided he did not want to give Snape any ideas next time the man broke into his mind while teaching him Occlumency. Then again, there was probably nothing in that dungeon that Snape hadn't seen before.

Buying a first class ticket, Harry settled down in the train. He'd shrunken his trunk, relishing that he could now do magic. He threw a cloth over Hedwig's cage, giving her an apologetic look.

"Sorry girl, but Muggles wouldn't understand an owl for a pet," he explained. She hooted softly and went to sleep.

Checking his timetables, Harry saw the journey would take about two hours, so he settled in a quiet corner to take a nap.

Back at Hogwarts 

Minerva McGonagall briskly strode through the corridors. She felt slightly guilty for not checking up on her now VERY young colleague earlier, but the house elf had told her he was with Albus yesterday.

Albus loved children, and she knew Albus cared deeply for Severus. No doubt they were having fun. Which would be good for both of them, she sighed, as Albus had been working like crazy lately.

But now she had promised herself the day off, and decided to spend it with Severus.

Knocking on his door, she was surprised there was no reply. Knocking again, she entered.

"Severus? Where are you, boy?" she called kindly.

He was not in his rooms. Albus must have gotten there before she did, she thought, smiling. Well, she'd just go up and see if she could borrow Severus for the afternoon then.

"Albus?"

The headmaster looked up from his desk as his deputy entered. "Yes, Minerva? Is there a problem?"

"No, I just wondered if I could borrow Severus for the day…he IS with you, isn't he?"

"No," Dumbledore said shortly, "he didn't show up this morning to do his lines. I caught him brewing a Dark potion yesterday and gave him detention. I sent a house elf to fetch him. He should be here any moment now. But please, do take him with you. Will save me the trouble of supervising."

The transfigurations professor raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Why, Albus, I thought you'd like to spend some time with Severus while he is a child."

"I have far too much work to do to spend time with him, and frankly, I don't want to. I'm up to my ears in work, half the Order calls me daily for instructions, and thanks to Severus getting himself exposed as a spy, I now don't know what Tom is planning, nor can I save innocent people from dying. So keep him out of my sight. I nearly beat and strangled him yesterday, I'm not sure if I can restrain myself today."

McGonagall's eyes widened in shock. She raised her wand.

"Point me Severus!" she said. No response.

She tried again, with the same results. A house elf entered just as she was about to try a third time.

"Gabby is very sorry, headmaster sir, but young professor Snape is left. Is not in castle or on grounds. All elves is been looking for him, sir, but nothing. Not in forest, not in lake, nowhere."

"He ran away," McGonagall said, pale and shaking.

"Did you check the dungeons?" asked the headmaster coolly, not looking up from his work, "perhaps he is brewing more illegal potions. If you find him there, lock him in his room and make sure he doesn't leave it until we have time to research a cure."

"ALBUS!" Minerva exploded, "the child is MISSING! Severus is GONE! How can you just sit there like you don't care?"

He looked at her, his eyes distant and cold, his face older then she had ever seen it. But what he said made her blood boil.

"Because I don't. He is responsible for many good people dying right now because he had to get himself kiddified. I told him exactly that yesterday. I told him to get out when I felt I was close to taking Phineas' advice to cane him hard enough to prevent him going anywhere for at least a week."

"ALBUS PERCIVAL WULFRIC BRIAN DUMBLEDORE!" McGonagall shrieked, "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR BLOODY MIND? You told him he was responsible for people dying? And that Legilimency you used on him earlier! You…you….you abused that boy! Even worse then we did all those years ago when he was still in school here! He could be anywhere! We have to find him, we have to get people to look for him!"

Dumbledore shrugged. "You go search for him if you want, there are no people to spare at the moment to look for a wayward brat with far too much attitude then is becoming for someone his age. He's probably hiding somewhere and will come back when he's tired and hungry. And when he does, I'll make sure the thought of sending the whole castle in a panick by running away will never so much as cross his mind again."

McGonagall's face was red with anger and she had to remind herself that she was no match for the old wizard to keep from hexing him. She stamped out, house elf at her heels, to floo Poppy Pomphrey and Pomona Sprout.


	4. Chapter 4

He felt like crying, and the only reason he didn't was because Father had told him he wasn't allowed. He had walked for hours and hours until his feet hurt badly. Finally he had ended up in the Muggle world. Spotting a truck parked somewhere down the road, he decided to climb in, hiding behind some empty boxes. He would be safe there. He just needed to sit down for a while…

Severus woke up again and immediately panicked. The truck was MOVING! It was driving along some road and he couldn't get out! His breathing hitched and he thought he would faint, but then he pulled himself together. This wasn't as bad as it seemed, he thought.

The truck would be going somewhere, most likely a city. In the city he could hide, and there would be plenty of opportunity to steal food.

So hours later, when the truck stopped in front of a store, Severus hid behind the boxes. The truck driver opened the door and looked inside.

Severus curled up in the back, in as tight a ball as he could. He could feel his heart pound in his throat…

The man left the door open and crossed the street to a store, and entered. Severus carefully climbed out of the truck, and began to run.

He wondered where he was. A clock in a church tower told him it was nearly dinner time and he was so hungry!

Wondering, he had walked into what apparently was a shopping centre. There was a fruit stand in front of an open shop. He smiled to himself. Waiting until the shop was quite busy, he walked passed and quietly pocketed some fruit before walking on.

He hadn't reached the end of the street when a hand reached out and grabbed him by the collar, turning him around.

Frightened, he looked into the emerald green eyes of a teen with jet black hair.

_Hogwarts._

"I…I…just don't know what to say!" Minerva raged, pacing the room frantically, "I'm so angry! How can he do that? How could he…Ooh, I could just kill him!"

Pomona Sprout nodded, but Poppy Pomphrey sighed.

"I know it's bad, Minerva, but have you seen Albus lately? I've been pestering him for weeks to come see me for a check up."

"Do you think he's ill?" the Herbology professor asked.

"I think we need to call an Order meeting," the mediwitch said.

Just two hours later, all Order members except Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore himself were seated in Grimmauld place.

"…and that's when I decided to call Poppy and Pomona," Minerva ended her tale of recent events.

The other members were dumbstruck. This was not what they had ever thought their leader capable of.

"I think Albus is having a nervous breakdown," Poppy said softly, "and Severus being de-aged was a triggering event. He needs help."

"Yes, yes, of course," Molly Weasley nodded, "But Severus! The poor child needs to be found!"

"ALBUS! We need help!" Mad Eye Moody stumbled through the floo, followed by Arabella Figg.

"Albus is not here," Minerva said shortly, "And won't be for some time. What is the problem?"

"Harry," Arabella sniffed, "He is gone."

"WHAT?" Molly Weasley paled, then went red, and finally burst into tears from shock.

"I never saw him leave the house," Mad Eye gruffly admitted, "But Dung was in the Leaky Cauldron today and swears he saw the kid before he disappeared under that cloak of his. I checked, and saw Vernon Dursley sitting in his car outside, so I thought our threats had worked and the Muggle had taken him shopping for his school supplies. But when the car returned to the house, Harry was not with him. He's nowhere in the Alley either, I didn't see him anywhere, with or without cloak."

"So Harry has run off as well?" Poppy softly asked.

"Looks like it," Moody nodded.

"Good for him," Fred said,

"He should have done that ages ago," added George. Their mother immediately rounded on them.

"Do you have any idea…" George said forcefully at his mother,

"How Harry is treated there?" Fred finished, glaring.

"He even told Dumbledore a bit about it. We heard it…oh, stop glaring Mum…and he still sent him back!"

"But now he's missing, and Severus as well! And Albus is ill. What are we going to do?"

For the first time, Arthur Weasley spoke up.

"It's our own fault," he said softly, "We kept heaping more and more things on Albus. He has a school to run, a war to lead, and practically the entire Ministry too. I say we take advantage of this unfortunate series of events to evaluate our own actions. Meanwhile, yes, we need to find the boys. I suggest we form search teams."

"One for Harry, and one for Severus," Minerva added.

"Who will lead the search for Harry?" Remus Lupin stepped forward.

"I will. Ron and Hermione know him best, I want them on my team. Molly, Tonks?"

"With you, Remus," Tonks said.

"Of course I will help," Molly added, and went to find the teens.

"Arthur?" But the man shook his head.

"No, Remus, if it's all the same to you, I'd like to lead the search for Severus. I'm sure even as a six year old he's clever enough…"

Minerva chuckled a bit. "Oh yes. You should have heard him."

"But he is still a six year old child. Pomona, Poppy, are you with me? And you, Filius?"

All three nodded.

"I need to go back to Hogwarts," Minerva said ruefully, "or I would have joined you. But I have to take over now, and I still have to decide what to do about Albus."

Arthur nodded. "Mad Eye, you're our best strategist now. Can you handle Order affairs for the moment?"

"Sure thing, Arthur. Kingsley and I will make sure the Ministry doesn't catch wind of this either."

"Excellent. Good luck, then, all. Let's bring our boys home soon."

York.

Severus wriggled and squirmed as he was marched back to the fruit shop. He knew yelling wouldn't do any good. He'd be caught as a runaway and taken back.

The man entered the shop, and called the shopkeeper. One look and Severus quietly handed over the fruit.

"Now, apologise," the man added.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, staring at his feet.

The shopkeeper, a large man, rolled up his sleeves.

"Thank you sir. I'll show him what we do with little thieves around here…"

Severus shivered, but stood up straighter. He felt the calculating look the man who caught him on his head, but he swallowed and tried to keep still.

"You'll do no such thing," he suddenly heard the man say to the shopkeeper, "I'm taking him home and I'm sure our parents are more then capable of disciplining him. Now, you have the fruit back, and I'm sure ten pounds is more then enough as compensation for my little brother's stupidity."

Severus felt a swat to the back of his head at the last words, but only a light one; the man wasn't trying to hurt him, only placate the shopkeeper, he realized.

"Well, yes," the shopkeeper grumbled, taking the money, and glaring at Severus.

"Good. Thank you for your…understanding," the man nearly sneered, before he took Severus' hand in his, holding it firmly.

"Come with me," he said in such a stern voice that Severus didn't even consider trying to run off.

A few streets away, the man pulled him in a quiet alley and kneeled before him, taking his chin.

"Where are your parents?

He shrugged.

"Runaway, eh?"

Severus didn't respond.

"And a wizard, too," the man added.

He knew. Oh….his robes, Severus realized. He looked around frantically for a way out, but the man smiled at him.

"Don't worry, I understand," he said softly.

Severus got his first good look at the man. He wasn't that old; it was hard to guess how old people were, but this one looked like he was a proper grown-up yet.

"Dirty, torn," the man continued, disturbing his thoughts, "no, this will not do. Are you wearing pants and a shirt underneath those robes?"

Severus nodded.

"Good. Scourgify," the man waved his wand over the robes, removing the dirt.

Suddenly Severus found that instead of his robes, he was wearing a Muggle jacket as the man transfigured it.

"Better," the man said, "Now, come on."

"Where…what are you going to do to me?" Severus asked. He didn't understand it. The man had made him return the fruit, but he had protected him from the shopkeeper and he had even paid for him. But he hadn't let him go…was he going to take him to the Police? Father used to threaten him with that.

"Well, I made you return that fruit you stole, but that doesn't change the fact that you are probably very hungry, right?"

Severus nodded, just as his stomach grumbled.

"I thought so," the man smiled, "And I was just about to go eat something myself. Since I robbed you of your dinner, why don't you join me for mine?"

The man was going to feed him? This was a very weird person. Why would he do that? What would he demand in return?

But his hunger overcame his reservations, and he nodded.

The man took his hand again, and soon they entered a small restaurant.

"Can I help you, young man?" a man dressed black pants and a white shirt asked. He wore a black apron, that was funny, Severus thought.

"A table for two, please," the man said, "and could you bring the menu right away? My brother tells me he is very hungry," they both smiled at him.

Soon, he was seated at a table, with a glass of juice in front of him, in a quiet corner, behind a large aquarium. Severus looked at the fish.

"Here," the man said, buttering a piece of bread that was on the table in a basket and handed it to him.

"That'll keep you from fainting until our order arrives. Now, my name is Harry."

He chewed bread, deliberately slow so he had time to think. If he told the man his name, he might bring him back to either his parents or Hogwarts, and he really wanted neither. But the man had been kind to him…just his first name?

"I'm Severus," he finally said.

Harry's eyes opened wide. "Severus Snape?" he asked.

Scared because Harry had guessed it, Severus nodded with his eyes fixed on the menu.

"Yes, sir," he confirmed.

Harry Potter dropped the knife he was using on the butter dish with a loud 'Clang'.


	5. Chapter 5

Minerva entered Hogwarts with a worried frown. Poppy had come with her help her with confronting Albus. They found him still in his office.

"I do not wish to be disturbed with complaints that I have to go and look for the brat again," he warned them without looking up.

"No, Albus," Minerva said, "We are here to tell you that you are temporarily released from your duties. ALL your duties."

He looked up at her. "Don't be ridiculous," he merely said before reaching for his quill.

"I'm sorry, Albus, but you have crossed way too many lines," Poppy said, "We know you are ill, but this can't go on. I'm sorry. Stupify."

As the stunner hit the old man, he slumped in his chair. They quickly levitated him to prevent him pitching face first to the floor.

"His own rooms," Poppy said, "Let's get him into bed for now. The stunner will wear off soon enough, it was only mild, but his body will probably shut down now that it is finally not working. He'll probably sleep for a long time."

Together they got the sick headmaster to his rooms and in his bed.

"Now what do we do?" Minerva asked.

"He needs to talk to a professional," Poppy said.

"I'll do that," they heard a voice.

Behind them was the Grey Lady.

"I'll help him," she said softly.

"But you are…" Minerva started.

"The nearest thing he has to peers," she interrupted, "And I am well qualified. Psychology was my specialty in life, and being dead didn't stop me from keeping up with my reading. That I'm a ghost isn't necessarily a problem. I am a neutral party. Everyone else has such high expectations of him. You need him to do all sorts of things. I am already dead. What he does or does not do can't cause me any harm."

Poppy, who had remained silent, now nodded and spoke up.

"I agree, Lady," she said, "But if he attempts to escape, you could not stop him."

"House elves can," she said, "Give me control over one or two, and do not disturb us unless I call for you. He'll need nutrient potions and a few dreamless sleep. Probably calming draught, too. If you would put them on one shelf of your office so a house elf can easily find them if they're needed."

Satisfied that Albus would be well cared for, the two witches returned to the office.

"I have to go," Poppy said, "I'm making med kits for all searchers, and then I'm meeting up with my team to plan our search. The sooner we find him, the better."

Minerva nodded, her face lined with worry.

"Bring him home soon, please," she said tiredly.

York.

Harry stared at the boy.

"How…you were at Hogwarts," he asked tentatively.

"Yes, sir," Severus said, playing with the bread.

"Do you…what happened?" Harry said, running a hand through his hair.

"I…I got dumped in the forest by Death Eaters, the men in the black robes," he clarified. Harry nodded for him to go on.

"A centaur found me and brought me to Hogwarts. The headmaster…the headmaster…he was…very mean…and scary…and…and he wanted to hurt me…I ran away yesterday."

"Do you remember anything from before you were dropped in the forest?" Harry asked carefully.

"Waking up somewhere strange. I was dreaming…but it wasn't a normal dream. It was about a man that looked like a snake. With red eyes. He threw a hex at me," the child shivered.

"Then I woke up, and they took me to the forest."

Harry didn't need much more information to deduct that Voldemort must've found out that Snape was a spy, and had punished him by turning him into a six year old. The headmaster had apparently mistreated the child enough to make him run away.

Snape. The greasy git was at his mercy. He could make him pay for all the years of humiliation…

Anger flashed across Harry's face before he blushed and was thoroughly ashamed of himself. Snape was no longer Snape, but a frightened six year old. A six year old in grave danger he didn't understand and with nowhere to go.

He looked at the child again, and saw he had curled up in fright and a tear ran down his face.

Severus had watched the Harry person as he told him what had happened and saw the anger flash across his face. That man was mad at him too! What had he done? Why didn't he remember what he had done to make everyone so angry with him?

He shrunk in his chair and stared at the table, trying not to cry after a very exhausting and very trying couple of days.

A single tear leaked out and he quickly wiped at it.

"Severus," Harry said kindly, "Severus, come on. You still have to tell me what you would like to eat."

"You're mad at me," Severus stated, his voice shaking a bit, "Everyone is mad at me and I don't know why. I don't want to go back to Hogwarts, and I don't..don't want to go to my parents…" he whispered.

Oh, Harry was going to be so angry now. He quickly stuffed the piece of bread in his pocket, butter and all.

Then he heard the Harry person sigh and he looked up.

"I'm not angry with you, Severus," Harry said.

"Sure," Severus thought, "That's why you looked so angry."

"I'm going to tell you a secret," Harry continued.

A secret? Uh oh. Secrets were never good. Every time Mother told him a secret, he somehow ended up brewing nasty potions or being beaten.

"I ran away too."

WHAT! Harry ran away? But…but he had money, and was nearly grown up! But if he did ran away he wasn't likely to bring Severus to the police, was he? Or the Aurors.

He looked up and listened intently to the man.

"I ran away from my aunt and uncle's house, but unlike you, I have somewhere to go. I think that I know what happened to you, too, it's not that difficult to guess," Harry seemed to mumble the last bit to himself.

He wanted to know what happened so much! Harry said he could guess, and he hadn't even been there, why had no one told him what happened to him? Was anything supposed to have happened to him, anyway? Oh wait…the spells in the hospital room.

"Am…am I sick?" he asked.

Harry shook his head. "No, not really. Look, this place is full of Muggles so it's pretty hard to explain. You know what?"

"What?"

"How about you come with me? I'm going to visit a house I own here tomorrow, and I have some other places where we can go so no one can find us."

It would be nice not to be alone. Harry had been nice.

"Do you hate me? Are you going to make me do horrible things?"

Harry snorted.

"If I planned to make you do horrible things, I wouldn't have insisted you bring back the fruit and apologise, would I?"

That made sense, Severus thought. If Harry planned to do the horrible things his parents made him do, then a stolen piece of fruit wouldn't have mattered to him.

"I'll come with you," he said softly.

Not that there was much choice. He could stay on his own, which would either get him killed or caught and brought back, or go with Harry.

"Good," Harry smiled, "then let's have dinner now, and then we'll go find a place to sleep."

Mother and Father didn't really give him much to eat. And he couldn't eat much anyway because of the potion. But the names on the menu were not familiar. Maybe Harry could help him?

"What is it, Sna…Severus?"

"I…when I was little…more then now, my Father made me drink one of Mother's potions, and now I have to throw up and have a bad tummy ache if I eat something with a lot of fat in it," he said softly, "And I don't know if there's anything here I can eat."

Harry muffled a curse. Oh no…

"Severus, I'm not mad at you, but at your father for doing that to you," Harry explained.

How did Harry know he thought he was mad at him?

"I'll order something for you, ok?"

The waiter came by, and Harry ordered steak for himself, and grilled chicken for Severus.

When the food came, Harry turned to the waiter.

"We need to find a place to stay for tonight," Harry said, "Do you have free rooms?"

"Yes, but we only have one two person room left. Is that ok? If you insist on separate rooms…"

"No, that will be fine," Harry said, "My brother is tired. I'd rather not run all over town if you have a perfectly good room available."

The waiter and Harry talked a bit more about fees or something, but honestly, that was boring and the chicken smelled wonderful.

He took a careful bite. This was so good. His stomach growled with happiness at the prospect of food, and when he saw Harry smile and nod at him, he dove into the food.

Harry took him up to the room after dinner. It was big, with two beds and a table, and a fireplace with two nice chairs.

"Come here for a second," Harry said.

He walked over to the older boy. Harry said he was sixteen, so he wasn't a man yet. Harry pulled him to sit in the other chair.

"Was there anyone else at Hogwarts, Severus? Madam Pomphrey? Professor McGonagall?"

He nodded. The stern-but-nice witch.

"We need to go somewhere safe as soon as possible," Harry said.

Harry didn't talk to him like he was an idiot, he liked that. Harry told him things, and didn't yell at him that he was too little to understand.

"Tomorrow we are going to check out the house, but it is a Muggle house so there won't be any wards, I think."

Wasn't that dangerous? Mother was always going on and on about the wards. Was Harry afraid too?

"After we check the house, we will go and buy ourselves some decent clothes. And then we'll portkey to the Bungalow. From what Griphook told me, that would be safest. Even if they can trace the portkey, they won't get through the wards. I already sent my owl there."

"You have an owl?"

"Yes, but carrying her all through the Muggle world wasn't practical, so once I decided what I was going to do I told her to go to the Bungalow."

"You have more then one house?"

"Three. Four, counting Grimmauld Place."

"Oh. Mother and Father only have our house at Spinner's End."

"Severus…"

Harry looked very serious now. What was going on?

"Severus…What I'm going to tell you will sound really weird, ok?"

Well, weird seemed to happen a lot lately.

"You see…The man you dreamed about, with the red eyes? That wasn't a dream. That was real."

"Did he hurt me?"

"It must have hurt. But what he did was turn you into a six year old."

"But I AM six years old."

"You WERE six years old, Severus. When were you born?"

"January 9th, 1960."

"Look at the newspaper on the table. It's from this morning."

"July 18th….1996…I'm…36?"

"Until that man in your dream, Voldemort, turned you into a six year old."

"But…why? And why didn't anyone tell me?"

"The headmaster doesn't believe in giving people information they need," Harry said, but his voice sounded strange, angry, like the headmaster had done that to him too.

"And I don't know exactly why Voldemort did this. Hoping perhaps, that you will come back to him, no doubt…"

Why would he go back to that maniac? If he was 36, what good would turning him into a 6 year old do? It made no sense!

"Why?" was all he could get out.

"Severus, what I'm going to tell you is very secret, ok? You can't tell anyone."

"Promise."

"When you were younger, about 18, you did join Voldemort. But you were really sorry about it very soon, and you went to Headmaster Dumbledore to tell him that. That's when you decided that you would become a spy. You stayed with Voldemort and the Death Eaters, but you didn't really belong to him anymore. And when you heard something important, you told Headmaster Dumbledore, so he could make sure no one was going to get hurt."

"Oh. Wasn't I punished for joining Voldemort?"

"Spying is very dangerous, Severus. Because you were really sorry, and willing to help, you weren't punished. Not by the Ministry, anyway. Voldemort is not known for his kindness to his servants."

"Do you mean, he hurt me before he knew I was a spy, too?"

"Yes, like he does all other Death Eaters. I saw it a few times."

"Are…are YOU a Death Eater?"

"Absolutely not! Voldemort and I are worst enemies, but he is older and stronger then me, so I have to train before I can really defeat him."

That sounded logical.

"Anyway…when you were 20, Voldemort was defeated for the first time, but he didn't die. For fourteen years he was gone, though. When you began spying, the headmaster told you to come live at Hogwarts and teach Potions, and that's what you still do."

"But I HATE Potions!"

He wasn't teaching Potions, was he? It had to be a joke. He would never do the same things Mother did to him.

"But you're very good at them," Harry said, "And you brew a lot of healing potions and other potions that Madam Pomphrey needs to make people better. She always says how lucky she is that you do that for her."

Harry's voice was becoming so distant…the flames were becoming blurry…

Harry stopped talking and smiled when he saw that the boy had fallen asleep in the chair.

"Merlin, Harry. Snape as a six year old. Why does this stuff always happen to me? To him?"

He carried the child to one of the beds and carefully undressed him.

He found himself fussing over the boy, tucking him in and pushing stray strands of dark hair from the small face.

"Get a grip, Harry," he mumbled, but still made sure the child wouldn't be cold.

"Just a kid," he whispered, remembering with shame his earlier thoughts of revenge, "A very abused kid." He sighed and shook his head.

"We're not so different after all, you and I," he murmured, stroking the dark hair before turning around to do some quiet reading before bed.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I should have done this MUCH sooner. Sorry Rose! I wish to thank my excellent beta, Rosaleen, who kindly puts up with my insane writing spurts. **

**Oh, and I reposted chapters 4 and 5 with the beta'ed and rewritten versions.**

_Sev's internal dialogue will be ita…itial…it will look like this._

Harry's search team.

"Listen, we KNOW that Harry has been here," Molly Weasley argued with a increasingly irritated Goblin.

"Mrs Weasley, first of all, I have not escorted anyone named Harry Potter to his vault. Second, even if I had, you do remember that Gringotts prides itself in keeping it's clients' confidentiality, don't you?"

"But you HAVE to tell us where Harry is," Hermione insisted, her hands on her hips.

Griphook eyed her coldly. "Young lady, I do not HAVE to tell you anything, even if I could. In fact, if I were to call my superior, he would INSIST that I do not tell you anything."

"Come on," Remus said, pulling the others with him, "We won't get any wiser here. I think the best thing is to ask the Dursleys."

When the group arrived at the Dursley residence, however, they found a huge truck, and the family supervising the move.

"Where do you think you're going?" Molly shrieked.

"Molly, shhhh," Tonks calmed her, "We won't get anywhere if you start yelling. Maybe you should…" The brave Auror crumpled under the older woman's stare.

"Mr Dursley. Moving, I see," Remus Lupin said politely to a very red faced Vernon.

"What…what are you doing here? The boy…I mean Harry…he's…"

"Not here," Remus kept his cool, but inside his wolf was growling.

"We know that, Mr Dursley. You were seen in London with Harry. Harry was seen in Diagon Alley, but he did not return with you. Would you kindly explain what is going on?"

Vernon Dursley stopped to think.

Harry should be long gone by now. He had the money in his pocket, and if the freaks were satisfied Harry left of his own accord, they might leave them alone forever. Their new house would make sure of it.

"The fre…I mean, Harry wanted to leave the house. We made a deal; I would help him get away and keep his disappearance a secret from you people for as long as I could, and in exchange, he got emancipated and will never come bother us again."

"So…?" Remus sounded dangerous now.

"I took him to London. He had to go to something named Gringotts to arrange the papers being filed, I guess." Vernon wasn't crazy enough to tell them about the money Harry had given him. They might take it away.

"After that he asked me to drop him off at King's Cross. He even advised me to move so my family would be safer. So that's what we are doing."

"And you have no idea where he went?"

"No. Could've been anywhere. He did say something about an inheritance from his godfather, though."

Molly looked at Remus.

"Did Sirius have other property where Harry might have gone?"

Remus nodded. "Several," he said with a sigh, "We'd best check up on each of them. Let's split up, that way we can have them all covered today."

Dudley Dursley was carrying out his computer.

"You know, why are you looking for him if he clearly doesn't want you to find him?" the boy asked, wiping sweat off his forehead and setting the computer down for a moment.

"He obviously doesn't trust you people," he continued, "Oh, I know, we've been pretty rotten to him. We never pretended that we were any good, though. But when he went off to that school years ago…I don't know, he seemed so happy. Like his life had become a fairy tale. But over the years, he became sad and depressed. Like he'd aged 50 years instead of five."

Dudley lifted his computer again.

"Truthfully, I never expected him to return here, I thought that once you all knew how we treated him, you'd never allow him back. But not only did you do that, you also locked him in the house so he couldn't even go out and stay out of our way like he used to when we were little. If I were you, I'd send him a message with one of those owls you're so fond of to tell him you're sorry and that you won't bother him if he doesn't want to be bothered. If it were me, I'd be pretty pissed off at the whole lot of you."

Leaving the stunned witches and wizards on the doorstep, and probably tired and confused by his long, sensible speech, Dudley Dursley loaded his computer into his father's car, and joined the rest of the family as they rode off into the sunset…oh well, into Whisteria Walk anyway.

York.

Soft. Warm. Nice.

Severus lazily opened his eyes, not at all wanting to be completely awake yet.

A strange room. And another bed. A mop of black hair. Oh. Harry.

"I'm 36."

_But I feel six. How can I be 36? I guess it doesn't matter now. And if I'm 36, I don't have to worry about having to go back to Mother and Father. That's good. _

"Hmmmm…." Harry turned and opened his eyes.

"You waking up too, Sev?" he slurred, still sleepy, "How are you feeling?"

"My feet still hurt."

Let's see how he reacts to that. Is he going to be mad at me? 

"I can imagine. We're not going to be walking much today, so you can rest them."

Harry sat up, swung his legs over the edge of the bed and walked over to Severus.

"Let me see if you have blisters."

Inspecting the little feet, Harry found several blisters.

"I have some cream for that. I'll put it on and then you have to lay down for at least 15 minutes so they can heal. If you need to go to the loo, you need to go now."

_He…he's helping me! Maybe he really IS nice. _

"What do you want in return?"

Harry raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Why would you be kind to me if you don't want anything in return? What is it? Do you want me to brew, or…or…"

"Severus, I do NOT want anything in return. We're in this together. We're both trying to stay away from the same people. I'm going to take care of you because I want to, ok? You don't have to do anything for me."

Harry pulled the feet on his lap and started to apply the cream to the blisters.

Severus kept very quiet for the fifteen minutes that were needed to heal his feet, deeply lost in thought.

Hogwarts, Severus' search team.

"Where do we even start, Arthur? The child could be anywhere."

"I know, but he's small and on foot. We should search in the vicinity first. If that yields nothing, we extend the range of our search. Apart from that, this is an emotional situation for a child. We can expect some accidental magic from him. We know his magical signature, so we can keep an eye out for that."

Hagrid entered.

"Heard Sevvy's run off," he panted, "Been searching for Firenze. He has the Centaurs and some others in the Forest keeping their eyes open for any sign of the kid."

Arthur nodded his thanks.

"Alastor called about an hour ago. He managed, together with my son, Bill, to break the wards on Severus' rooms in the dungeons. He found that Severus placed some tracking spells on several low level death eaters. We don't know why yet; Alastor thinks they might be apprentices of his, or maybe he is recruiting them for our side. At any rate, it makes his job of leading the Order defense easier. He also found Severus' journal. I am reluctant to read it, even though Bill managed to break the charms on it, because it's such a personal item…but it might hold clues."

Poppy and Pomona hesitated. Of course it would help tremendously…

"How about only you read it, Arthur, and share what you deem important. That way, when we find Severus and get him back to his proper age, you can discuss with him if you should be Obliviated."

York

After breakfast, Harry ordered a cab for him and Severus to visit his house and go shopping.

The house had been empty for decades, and it showed. It was dirty. Very, very dirty.

EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW 

Severus sneezed. And again.

"Yeah I know," Harry said, grinning, "We're not staying here anyway. There are no wards at all. I'll have something done about this in the near future, but not now.

_So wards are important. Oh wait, Mother said something about that. Without wards, people can be found when they do magic. Mother doesn't..didn't…want people to know she did dark magic._

"Well, let's go buy some decent clothes for both of us, and then we're off to the Bungalow. I guess it'll need some work too, so we better also buy some supplies."

Paying the cabbie, they were dropped off in front of a store where the cabby assured them, they would find new clothes for both of them.

Harry quickly picked some clothes for himself. Jeans, a few dress pants, shirts and a jacket. Shoes and underwear.

Then they went to the children's department.

"Can I help you, young men?" a saleswoman asked.

"No, thank you," Harry said politely, "We'll find whatever we need."

"Are you sure? I have just the things for you…"

"No, thank you, Ma'am," Harry said a bit more forcefully.

"Oh, but you MUST let me help pick out something, he's such a little deary," she cooed, pinching Severus' cheeks.

Harry groaned and closed his eyes.

AARGGHHHH. She pinched me. She. Pinched. Me. SHE PINCED ME! 

"Does your boss know you pinch your customers?" Even as a child, Severus' Death Glare was very impressive.

Harry, after five years of Potions very adapt at reading Severus' moods, quickly took his hand and dragged him to the other end of the store, leaving a baffled store employee behind.

Severus had fun selecting his own clothes, and Harry let him. After paying, they went to a quiet corner, shrunk the bags and pocketed them, before going to get their supplies.

Finally, everything was bought, shrunken, and they were ready to go.

Harry touched the deer around his neck, and they felt the familiar tug of the portkey as they were ported to a very remote, very neglected bungalow.


	7. Chapter 7

-Hogwarts-

Albus Dumbledore slowly opened his eyes.

"Whhngggggg"

Now that didn't sound too intelligent. Clearing his throat and blinking, he searched for his glasses.

"Goodmorning," a female voice said.

Covering himself up to his nose with the blankets, and looking around, he discovered the Grey Lady floating in sitting position half an inch above the seat of a chair.

"What…why are you here? And why am I in bed? I have so much to do…"

"No, you don't. You've done more than enough," the Grey Lady said in a calm, neutral tone, not condemning in the slightest.

"They stunned me, didn't they?"

"Yes, they did. After you refused to send out a search party for Severus, and telling them that you couldn't care less what happened to the brat, your words."

"But I have to…"

"You will return to your responsibilities, I assure you. But only to yours. You have been taking far too much upon yourself. It must have been difficult, having so many people depending on you for guidance."

The headmaster leaned back.

"I work about 22 hours a day," he admitted, "maybe I am a bit overworked. But, the war…and the school…and the Ministry…"

"Are not your responsibility alone," the Grey Lady told him.

"Did you enjoy mistreating Severus?" she asked.

"Yes. NO! Of course not. I just…couldn't take it anymore."

"I know," the ghost nodded, "and I will help you get back on track. For now, you must rest. Gabby!"

The house elf appeared.

"Gabby, would you fetch a Dreamless Sleep potion and make sure the headmaster drinks it? Also, bring him some food."

The ghost floated to the bed.

"What is going to happen now?" Dumbledore asked.

"We work on getting you in shape. Minerva, Arthur and Alastor have taken over running the school, the Order, and conducting the search for the boys."

"Boys?"

"Harry ran away as well," the Grey Lady informed him, "the search team came back from his relatives with some disturbing stories. The Dursleys have admitted to abusing Harry, but have helped him with his filing for emancipation and his subsequent flight to freedom."

"I only tried to keep him safe," Dumbledore argued.

"Did you?" the Grey Lady asked kindly.

The headmaster didn't respond, but turned his eyes to his sheets.

Gabby returned with food and the potion.

"Eat, and sleep," the Grey Lady said, "I'll be here when you wake up. You're not in this alone anymore."

-Weasley Residence-

Molly Weasley returned from their search for Harry in all of Sirius' known residences very subdued and sad.

Looking for her husband, she found him in their bedroom. He was sitting in one of the comfortable chairs, reading a book. To Molly's surprise, there were tears running down his face.

"Arthur, what's wrong?" she asked in alarm. Her husband was usually a very composed man, not prone to excessive emotional outbursts.

Arthur Weasley put down the book and looked at his wife.

"Severus' diary. He kept it since his Hogwarts years. He didn't record much, once every few weeks, sometimes once every few months. He…Molly…he was just a boy when he started this, I'm reading entries from his final year now. I keep thinking about our boys, and how much we love them. No one, no one has loved Severus. His parents abused him. He had no friends, only tormentors. He was so very alone…"

Molly wiped her eyes. "That sounds like Harry, too. We…those Muggles were even worse then we imagined, Arthur, but what that boy…Harry's cousin said to us…it was so true. He told us our world made Harry unhappy and neglected him just as much as they have done. He said 'he seemed to have aged fifty years instead of five,' and whenever I look at Harry, that is exactly what I see. A very old child."

Arthur nodded. "That is what I feel when I read what Severus wrote. A very old child. Of course, that is now literal…but I think we made a mistake in believing he could not be far away. From what I understand, he had to look after himself pretty much since he was a baby. We are looking for two very self sufficient boys, Molly."

"Those poor children," his wife whispered, "it's a comfort, knowing that they can look after themselves…and at the same time, they shouldn't have to be able to. When we find them, we will take in Severus too, won't we, Arthur? Show that boy some love and care."

Arthur gently kissed his wife. "We certainly will, love. Well, I better get back to Hogwarts to expand our search area, and you will need to go to London, I guess."

"Yes, we are gathering there to discuss our options. Oh, I do hope you find that poor child today, Arthur."

"As do I, Molly. As do I. Good luck in contacting Harry."

-Bungalow-

"Well…" Harry said, putting down his bag containing their shrunken belongings, and looking around.

The house had once been well kept, but now it was…dirty. The furniture was intact, but it would need some very thorough cleaning before they could sit on it without developing an acute dust allergy.

Severus stared at it. "Are…are we really going to live here?" he asked carefully.

Harry sighed. "I doubt the cottage is in better shape, and from what I can tell, the wards have not suffered. Strong as ever. Besides…I'm no longer a minor. Magic can't be detected here. You aren't even considered a minor. Can you do magic?"

Severus held out his hand. "Scourgify," he said, aiming at the kitchen sink. A two foot circle of dirt disappeared.

Harry applauded him. "Well done! With magic, cleaning this place up and repairing it will be much faster. Why don't you clean as much as you can here – be careful not to drain yourself – and I will start with the livingroom."

Severus started cleaning. It was fun. He could feel the magic running through his fingers and he learned how to control it. He'd never been able to do that; perhaps it was a remnant of his adult self? He'd ask Harry about it later.

A beautiful white owl flew in.

"Hi," Severus said, stroking the white feathers. The owl looked at him but didn't bite.

"Are you from around here? Or wait…Harry said you were going to come here. Are you Hedwig?"

The owl hooted, apparently pleased with his quick understanding.

I wish I had an owl like this one…but Father would just kill it, just like he killed Ash… 

A tear slid down his face.

"I see you have met Hedwig," Harry's voice came.

"Severus?"

Harry would be mad at him for crying. He was a big boy. Big boys never cry.

"Severus, what's wrong?" Harry sounded concerned now.

Hedwig hooted.

"Severus, it's ok to cry when you're hurt or sad," Harry said, kneeling next to him.

Harry was looking at him like he cared about him. Like…like…

Severus suddenly stepped forward and hid his face against Harry's shoulder.

_I'm such an idiot, I'm in such trouble, Harry's not going to like me anymore, he'll send me away!_

Suddenly two arms were wrapped around him, a bit awkwardly at first.

"Sshhhhh, Sevvy. It's ok to cry," Harry said in his ear, "I won't be mad at you for crying."

"F..Father…I was…your owl and then I thought about Ash and how Father killed him."

Harry hugged the little boy closer, remembering all the times his uncle had threatened to kill Hedwig, and his blood boiled with anger for what the darkhaired man he'd once seen in a memory had done to this little boy.

Severus calmed down, and stepped out of the hug, looking at the ground, redfaced.

"I'm sorry…"

"It's ok," Harry assured him. "Was Ash your owl?"

"My kitten," Severus corrected him, "I found him by the road. I took him home and took care of him. But when Father found out, he killed him. He said I could never get attacked…no, attached to something or someone."

Harry shook his head. "That was very wrong of him, Sevvy. And it's not true. My uncle told me all those things too, but it's just not true. I love my friends, and nothing is wrong with that. I am stronger because I love them."

Stronger because he loved them? How? Mother and Father didn't love anyone, and they are…were strong. Maybe it wasn't the same for everyone.

"Do you want to go play with Hedwig? I'll finish up the kitchen," Harry offered.

"Play?"

"Yes, play. She likes to show off how fast she is, so you can race her. Or you could help her find a nice place to perch. Just don't leave the wards. There is a low fence around the garden. The wards end there, so don't cross it. Wait."

Harry took out his firebolt and cast a few charms.

"Learned those from a few Quidditch books. It's for safety. The broom won't let you fall off now, and it won't go higher than the house. Don't try to take them off. You could easily fall and I'd hate for you to get hurt."

Severus' eyes shone with joy as Harry handed him the broom, and he readily promised to stay in the garden. Which was huge, anyway, large enough for a complete Quidditch pitch.

Hedwig gave a small hoot to indicate she would look after their young friend.

Harry watched with a huge grin as Severus mounted the firebolt and swooped off with a look of pure delight on his small, too pale face, Hedwig in tow.


	8. Chapter 8

-Burrow-

"Hey Dad."

Ron Weasley entered, tired and frustrated, followed by Hermione.

"Dad, what's wrong?" he asked in alarm. His father was pale and shaky.

Arthur looked up. "Hi kids. I'm sorry, I was just finishing reading Severus' diary. Any news?"

"Well, we've all had some time to think about what that huge cousin of Harry said, and after talking to Remus we decided it would be best to try and owl him. Just to ask him to let us know he's ok. Remus is writing it. How's the Headmaster?"

"The Grey Lady says he is in bad shape. He isn't owning up to his mistakes yet, and sleeps most of the time. But then again, he has admitted to her that he has worked over 22 hours a day these past years. It's a miracle he has any brains left. I just…it's hard to imagine that he would deliberately hurt Severus. He has always been very fond of him."

Hermione shrugged a bit. "My father has an interest in psychology. A friend of his is a professor at a university in America and he goes there every summer to take a few courses. Says it helps him with his more terrified patients. Anyway, when I told him the Headmaster was having a nervous breakdown he gave me some of his books to read."

Ron snorted. Hermione smacked him upside the head.

"Shut up, Ronald. I read something about trigger events. Something that happens that is the straw that breaks the camel's back, so to speak. Professor Snape's being found out. Losing his spy. The headmaster probably deliberately mistreated professor Snape…"

She held up her hand to stop the protests.

"Now, when I say deliberately, I use the term loosely. In his normal state of mind, he would never hurt professor Snape. Everyone knows that. So to get someone to notice that he couldn't go on anymore, he had to do something so out of character that people couldn't explain it away. Mind you, he didn't consciously plan it, it just happened. He had already tried with Harry. Sending him back to the Dursleys, I mean, this summer. But no one stopped him, like he probably more then half hoped they would."

Arthur stared at Hermione. "I…don't really get it," he admitted, "so it was deliberate, but not really deliberate?"

Hermione nodded. "I feel sorry for him," she added sadly, "once he recovers, he will be horrified at what he has done. Does professor Snape's diary help any, Mr Weasley?"

"Arthur, Hermione. Arthur and Molly. We told you that before. The diary is helpful in that it shows how clever Severus really is. And there are signs, in the last few entries, that he, at least, recognized a bit of what was going on with Dumbledore, and tried to help as much as he could."

Ron frowned. "So when Snape was kiddified, Dumbledore lost not only his spy but also a lot of support?"

Arthur nodded. "Harry and Severus are more alike then you would think," he said, looking pointily at Hermione. Her eyes widened slightly.

"I am not at liberty to say more. It's Severus' diary after all. But I would appreciate it, if we find…when we find him, that you will be kind to Severus."

-Bungalow-

Harry sighed and wiped his face with his dirty hand. Then he looked around in contentment. The house was bare, but finally clean enough for human habitation.

Severus was outside, cleaning the rugs by levitating two and making them fly into each other repeatedly. He obviously was having fun.

Harry smiled. Fun. They needed to have lots more of it. Both of them woke from nightmares repeatedly during the night, though it was getting better; especially with Severus. Not being abused and forced into practicing the Dark Arts improved his mood greatly.

Severus giggled softly to himself as the rugs bashed into each other for the tenth time, clouds of dust flying in all directions. It was funny. He was glad Harry let him do stuff like this.

They had worked, but the work was fun. He could use magic as much as he liked, and he didn't have to do anything nasty. Harry let him fly on his broom every day. He said that Severus was too young to work all day and needed play.

When he had pointed out that he was really twenty years older then Harry, Harry had just snorted and pushed him out the door, handing him the broom.

Why was the old wizard at Hogwarts so mad at him? Why hadn't HE played with him? Harry didn't seem to like the old wizard much either. Mother and Father hadn't liked him either, but that was actually a point in the old man's favor, he contemplated, smirking a bit.

-Later-

"Harry?"

Harry looked up from his reading. He usually didn't send Severus to bed; the boy would get tired and go to sleep at around 8 each night.

He looked at the clock. Nearly 1 am.

"What is it, Sevvy?"

The little boy looked adorable in his green and silver pyjamas, the pants a little too long, covering the top of the small feet and rubbing his fists in his eyes.

"I had a really scary dream," Severus said, walking over to Harry.

Harry frowned. Severus, like himself, was prone to nightmares, but the boy didn't usually come to him. He had gone up to Severus' room a few times since they arrived here to soothe him through a nightmare, but never before had the boy come to him voluntarily.

Did he do something wrong? Severus wondered. Harry was frowning. He had tried to go back to sleep, really, he had, but the dream was just too scary. Maybe Harry thought he was being stupid. Maybe he would send him away…

"Come," Harry said, patting the couch next to him, "I think you can use some nice hot milk with honey. That always helps me when I have a nightmare."

He tucked Severus in under the quilt on the couch and went to the kitchen. Soon he returned with two mugs.

"Aren't you going to send me away now?" Severus asked, large black eyes searching Harry's face.

"Of course not. Why would I do that?"

"Because I'm stupid…"

Harry shook his head. "You are not stupid, Sevvy. You can always come to me when you have a nightmare that really scares you. You can even wake me up and I won't be mad. I have had lots of nightmares, and I always wished someone would make warm milk for me when I woke up scared, but no one did. So I want to do that for you. Deal?"

His stomach was feeling all warm, but not from the milk. It always felt warm when Harry called him 'Sevvy' even if he knew that if someone else called him that, he would have to glare and be angry. But from Harry it was ok. Harry was almost his big brother.

"Mother and Father hit me if I cried," he said softly, blowing in his milk, "they said it was weak."

"It's not. Well, if you run around blubbering all day long it may be…"

Severus giggled.

Harry laughed along with him, but then he became serious.

"When I was your age, my aunt and uncle hit me too. They didn't even give me a room of my own, but made me sleep in the cupboard under the stairs."

Severus stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Like the one we have here?" he asked. It was a fun place to play hide and seek, but he wouldn't want to LIVE in it! It had spiders, and it was really small and dark.

"Yes, like that one. I came to live with them when I was one, and they only gave me a small room when I was 11. Because that's when my Hogwarts letter came and they got scared."

Severus leaned against Harry's shoulder.

"Mother whipped my hands if I did something wrong when I made potions," he said, "she said she hates doing it, but she never explains anything. She just used the whipping spell a lot."

Harry fumed inwardly. "Well, that explains why you grew up to be such a terrible teacher," he thought, "compared to your mother, you probably are very kind and gentle."

"My aunt and uncle called me a freak and hit me because I could do magic," he said.

Severus scowled. It really was a funny sight on such a young child.

"But that's not FAIR!"

"No, it isn't. And after I came to Hogwarts, and got some very good friends, I understood that it wasn't my fault. My best friend's Mom taught me that."

"But Mother and Father said they HAD to do that to me, because I am such a horrible boy," Severus explained, "and the mean old man at the castle said it too, that it was all my fault."

Harry put his arm around the little boy. "It wasn't our fault," he repeated, "and you are not a horrible boy, no more then I was."

Again he smirked inwardly. The adult Severus would sneer in a heartbeat that Harry WAS a horrible boy.

"Tomorrow, we are going to do some shopping," he told Severus.

"Where?" the child was already getting tired.

"Diagon Alley. We are going in disguise, and have a lot of fun. Why don't you start thinking about the nice things you want to buy, so you'll dream about that, and the icecreams at Florean Fortescue's…the really cool stuff at Quality Quidditch Supplies…"

Severus yawned, and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

-Hogwarts-

Dumbledore had been mostly asleep for over a week. He woke up once or twice a day to eat, but would generally fall asleep within half an hour.

The Grey Lady didn't push the point; the recovering process required that his physical condition had to improve first.

Finally, ten days after he was locked in his rooms, Dumbledore woke up in the mid-morning.

"Hello," the ghost smiled at him.

"Hi," Dumbledore replied, a bit disorientated.

"I feel…strange. Like waking up from a very bad dream. How long was I asleep? I remember talking to you before…"

"We talked several times before, but I admit only briefly. You've been mostly asleep these past ten days."

"TEN DAYS? How is that possible?"

"You are very overworked. In fact, you are experiencing a nervous breakdown."

Dumbledore bit his lip.

"What…what did I do?" he wondered. But then he paled.

"Severus! Is he really six years old, or did I dream that?"

"No, you didn't dream that. He is six years old. Minerva and Filius are still looking for the countercurse."

The next question was whispered so soft that had she not been a ghost, she would have missed it.

"And…I didn't dream…what I did to him either?"

She shook her head, looking in sympathy at the broken man. Tears ran down papery and gaunt cheeks, into the beard.

"My child…I hurt my boy."

The ghost said nothing, but pointed him to a box of tissues on the bedside table.

"He's gone, isn't he? He and Harry. Oh Merlin…"

"Two searchteams have been formed, one for each boy, but they are at a dead end right now."

Dumbledore wept into his hands.

"Do you think…Minerva and the others will ever speak to me again? I know a couple of things that might help in their search…"


	9. Chapter 9

-York-

"Sevvy! Severus!"

Harry knocked on the boy's bedroom door early in the morning. He opened the door and entered.

Severus' room was the first they'd cleaned after the kitchen and livingroom. Harry had been amused that even as a child, Severus preferred Slytherin colors. The room was creamcolored, with green and silver accents. His own room was the same, only with gold and red.

"Come on, Sevvy," he said to the sleepy child, "we need to put glamours on before we go to the Alley."

That woke the boy up. He jumped out of bed.

"Are we going now, Harry?"

"Breakfast first! Put on Muggle clothes, and a light cloak. That way we'll fit into both the Muggle and the Wizarding world."

The boy jumped up and down on his bed, and Harry smirked. The quiet, scared child finally felt safe enough to act his age.

"Are we going to the Muggle world too? Where are we going?"

"That's a surprise. We'll be gone all day and have as much fun as we can."

-Hogwarts-

"Come in, Minerva," the Grey Lady said.

Dumbledore's rooms had been closed to all other humans in the castle for nearly two weeks. Minerva entered, nervously.

"H..how is he?" she asked the ghost.

"We have made progress," she smiled her ghostly smile, "and I believe he will recover. He is very distraught, however, when he realized what he has done to Harry and Severus. He wants to give you any information he has that might help with the search."

"How should I act towards him?"

"Be yourself, but don't yell at him or judge him harshly. You must not excuse his behavior, but don't condemn him either. Go on, he is waiting for you."

Minerva entered the bedroom, and stood at the threshold, looking at her old friend and mentor.

He was pale, his eyes were red to betray that he had been crying, and he looked so very frail and old.

He hardly dared to look at her.

"A…are you very mad, Minerva?" he finally managed, "I…Merlin, I'm so sorry…"

She thought her heart would break. Of course they had all known that he was ill, but until now, anger had been the more prominent emotion when it came to Albus. But now, she just rushed towards him and threw her arms around the broken old man.

"Oh, Albus, I know. It's not just your fault. We kept heaping responsibilities on you without considering you needed rest and someone to turn to just as much as the rest of us. I'm sorry we didn't help you before. If we had, it wouldn't have come to this."

"Severus did," he whispered in her ear, and she felt how thin he had become.

"Severus tried to help me. He was already pulling much more then his own weight, but he spent every free moment helping me. I…I miss him, and it's all my own fault."

"We'll find them, Albus.We will bring him back."

"But how?" the old wizard said sadly, "I hurt him. He hates me now. And we don't even know if he'll ever be an adult again."

The witch pulled back. "Filius is researching. If anyone can find a countercurse, it's him, you know that. Meanwhile, the Grey Lady said you wanted to help us?"

Dumbledore nodded. "James and Lily had more houses then the one at Godric's Hollow. I don't know exactly how many and where, but the Goblins do. They could've told Harry."

Minerva looked excited at the prospect. "And Severus? Is there somewhere…"

Dumbledore stared in the distance as he wiped away a stray tear.

"Severus has nowhere to go, except perhaps his parents' old house, if he remembers where it is. It's in a Muggle town, in a street called Spinner's End."

-Bungalow-

Harry and Severus were eating breakfast, talking excitedly about their day out, when an owl flew in, carrying a letter. Severus paled.

"Have they found us, Harry?" he asked, frightened.

Harry shook his head. "I doubt that. Owls are clever; they can find people in hiding. Let's see what it says…"

He cast a few Finite's first for good measure, to make sure the letter wasn't used to track him, and then opened it.

"_Dear Harry,_

_The search team looking for you has decided that as its leader, the task to write you should fall to me. _

_We have been looking for you for a while now, and it was only when we talked to your relatives –who have now moved to a safe location- that we learned something. _

_You see, your cousin told us in no uncertain terms that he would have left too, if he had been as abused and neglected by us as you were. _

_I'm sorry, Harry. We never bothered to realize how your life in the wizarding world has been since you entered it. Your cousin said 'he looked like he had aged fifty years instead of five'. Now that the headmaster is suffering from a nervous breakdown…wait, you didn't know that yet, did you? I'll go into it in a moment._

_Anyway, when the headmaster broke down we realized that we had placed all of our expectations and demands on the shoulders of an old man and a boy, and how unfair that is. We are doing our best to amend it._

_Harry, we promise not to force you into anything anymore. We just want to be sure that you are safe and sound. Will you let us know?_

_Dumbledore reacted very badly to Severus being found out and de-aged…I am getting ahead of myself again, right? Well, Severus was found out as a spy. I'm not sure what Voldemort meant to accomplish with turning him into a six year old, but he did. The Grey Lady and Hermione both explained to us that this worked as a 'triggering event' for Dumbledore and he broke down, abusing Severus at least verbally and to a lesser degree physically, though he didn't really harm him. This shocked us all; Dumbledore loves Severus. He even tried to adopt him when we were in school, but nothing came of that. I don't think Severus even knows; Arthur found the old paperwork at the Ministry last week._

_Oh dear, I'm ranting on. I'm sorry, but we are looking for both of you right now and I tend to get a bit confused sometimes._

_Do write and tell us how you are. If you need anything, let us know and we will help you._

_Remus."_

"Harry?"

Harry startled. Then he smiled at the boy.

"Everything is ok, Sevvy. They're not hunting me anymore, although they are still searching for you. Nobody's mad at you, either. They finally came to their senses, it seems…" Harry trailed off.

Severus rushed at Harry and threw his arms around the older boy's waist.

"Don't send me back, please, I like it here!"

Harry patted his hair. "Of course I'm not sending you back. You can stay with me as long as you like. Now, I just need to write a response to this, then we're putting on our glamours and go out, ok?"

-Remus Lupin, The Burrow-

"Any luck, Arthur?"

"No. Nothing. And you?"

"No response yet. Minerva flooed, though, that she has seen and spoken to Dumbledore and might have some leads for us. She's asking that we come by."

"Of course! Did she say how Dumble…hey, isn't that your owl?"

Remus turned around and rushed to the tired animal.

"He replied. Arthur, he replied!" the man nearly danced.

"Well open it! What does it say?"

"_Hey Moony,_

_Are you really not angry, or is that just a tactic to get me to give myself up to you? Sorry, but I have to ask._

_So Dumbledore is ill; I already thought sending me to the Dursleys after what I told him was pretty sick. At some level, I am happy that he didn't do it out of malice._

_Dudley, eh? Well perhaps there is hoe for him after all._

_About my wellbeing: I am doing fine. I'll be on the train on september 1st, but I intend to have some fun first. When I'm absolutely sure you're not just trying to get me to show myself so you can abduct me and send me back to the Dursleys, I might even visit._

_Tell my friends I said hi, and that I'm sorry for any worry I might have caused them._

_Harry."_

"He doesn't sound very friendly," Ron said when they got to read the letter.

"He has no reason to believe…"

"In our good intentions," the twins said.

Hermione frowned thoughtfully. "Remus told him about Snape being kiddified, but he doesn't respond to that at all. That's strange."

Ron shrugged. "Probably doesn't want to waste a thought on him. He still thinks Snape is an evil git, after all."

Rereading the letter, Hermione got lost in thought.

A/N: Short chapter, sorry, but I want to take a lot of time for Sevvy's and Harry's day out, so I'm reserving the whole next chapter for that. And I was fearing angry mobs if I didn't update today. So here it is. I'm going to sleep now.


	10. Chapter 10

_ss"parseltongue"ss_

Severus was giggling like mad.

"Stop that!" Harry glared.

That only made Severus giggle more.

Harry looked in the mirror and couldn't hold back a chuckle.

They had decided they would pose as father and son, but to pull that off, Harry had to look a bit older.

So he had aged himself with an aging potion that worked only for a day. He now looked like what he supposed his father would've looked like had he been alive.

His hair was still unruly and thick, but it was graying at the temples and there were a few streaks down his head too. He had decided to use Muggle methods of disguise. Those could not be dispelled.

He had used colored contacts to change his eyecolor to brown, and his face was wrinkled.

His scar was hidden underneath both a glamour and Muggle make-up. Severus had snickered through the entire make-up application phase of the disguise.

Harry scowled at him, and then lifted him to put him on the table.

"Yes, laugh. It's your turn now."

Using temporal, easy-to-wash-out hairdye, he colored Severus' hair to brown and then hesitated.

"I really should…"

Severus nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, yes, cut it off!"

A few deft cutting charms later, Severus' hair was about ear length and a little curly at the ends; he looked even more adorable.

"Well, son," Harry said, grinning at Severus, "Let's go."

Diagon Alley was crowded, and Harry made sure to keep Severus's hand in his.

They first went to Flourish and Blott's. Harry rolled his eyes when the youngster went wild at the sight of all the books.

Harry picked up some books on advanced defense, battle techniques and wandless magic, and several others he thought he could use.

After paying for them and having them shrunk, he went to look for Severus, who was sitting at the children's corner with a serious expression on his face.

"Found any books you like?" Harry asked.

Severus hesitated. "Ha…Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"I don't…don't have any money. I can't go to Gringotts either, can I?"

Harry smiled.

"I'm taking you on a day out, son. Don't worry about money. Today is for fun, ok? Go get the books you like."

Severus looked at him solemnly.

"I don't think your professor would agree," he said.

Harry sighed. "Probably not. Tell you what," he bent over so he could whisper in the boy's ear, "If you get changed back and decide you want to repay me, you can. Deal?"

Severus nodded happily and collected a pile of books. Harry held back a snort when he saw they were not entirely children's books; they were appropriate for someone about 3rd year at Hogwarts.

Paying for them and adding them to the shrunken collection, they then entered Quality Quidditch Supplies.

Severus moved carefully, reverently almost, looking at all the displays but never daring to touch. Harry watched him in amusement.

"I want a Nimbus 2000," he said to the man behind the counter, "With some extra charms."

"For the little one, eh?" the man winked.

Harry grinned self-consciously. "It's a surprise for him," he confided in the man, "But I wouldn't get away with it if I didn't have extra safety charms on it. He's a fearless flyer, and I don't want him to take a bad fall; he might well try out for a House team one day!"

The man listened with a small smile, used to parents bragging about their children's abilities. If only they all bought Nimbus 2000's for their offspring, he would be a happy man.

Harry paid for the broom and had it shrunken.

Taking Severus to Florean Fortescue's for some well-deserved ice cream, Harry smiled at him.

"I have a birthday present for you," he said.

"But my birthday is in January!" Severus protested his eyes wide with anticipation.

"Did you get anything?" Harry casually inquired.

"N…no…"

Taking out the small box with the broom, Harry handed it to the boy.

"It's shrunken, of course. My first broom was one of those; I really loved it."

Severus opened the box and gasped. "A..A Nimbus 2000?"

He turned beetroot red. "A real broom?"

Harry chuckled. "Of course. How else are we going to play Quidditch together if you don't have a real broom?"

To Harry's surprise, he suddenly found himself with a lapful of excited six year old hugging him around his neck until he feared he would choke.

Awkwardly petting the small back, he smiled. He remembered the joy he felt over his very first present, and wanted to make Severus just as happy.

He shook his head. All thoughts of revenge that went through his mind when he first encountered the now young potions master had gone in the weeks that Sevvy spent with him. And after the stories he heard from the boy, although he was sure they barely scratched the surface of what really had happened, he found himself feeling sorry for the adult Snape, and even detected, to his chagrin, a growing understanding for the man.

Meanwhile, he had learned to love the boy. He hugged him close to his chest.

"You're welcome, kiddo," he whispered, unconsciously using the endearment Sirius had used for him.

"Now…I have a plan for the rest of today, and you will need to tell me if you like it."

Severus looked at him, his eyes wide. "What?"

"How would you like to visit the Zoo?" Harry asked.

Harry enjoyed the Zoo even more then on the one occasion he had previously visited a Zoo. This time, no Piers, Dudley, or Aunt and Uncle were around to spoil his fun.

Instead, Severus walked beside him, practically skipping with joy.

The animals were well cared for, Harry saw, and some sophisticated programs were underway, but he couldn't help but wonder if the animals felt the same as he had, locked in Privet Drive and later at Hogwarts.

Severus tugged at his hand.

"Wanna go see the snakes, Ha…Dad, please!"

"Slytherin," Harry scolded playfully.

Severus stuck out his tongue. "Parselmouth," he retorted, and ran ahead before Harry could retaliate.

Their Slytherin hearts however, were not up to seeing so many snakes in so many cages. Harry chatted briefly with each one, while Severus was on lookout duty in case someone approached, and Harry passed the snake's clever remarks to him.

Someone at the back was demonstrating holding a large snake, and Harry looked at Severus.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.

Severus smirked mischievously. "I think so."

ss"Hello there, mate, would you do us a favor and slither over here, if you please?"ss 

The handler panicked when the first docile snake suddenly seemed to spring to life and slide down his arms, his legs and unto the floor.

Spectators screamed and jumped aside, reminding Harry forcefully of the events of Dudley's eleventh birthday.

Severus was enjoying himself immensely. This day out was wonderful. Harry had bought him a really cool gift, and now he let him join him in some of his famous mischief. The Muggles did scare easily, he thought as he sat down to pet the snake.

_ss"Thank you,"_ Harry hissed, "_we wanted to make your acquaintance, and inquire if there is anything we can do for you lot."ss_

The snake curled around Severus, but did nothing but nuzzle his hair.

_ss"You speak our language. We honor you, Speaker. These humans take good care of us, but we are not free. Some of us wish to be free."ss_

_ss"That can be arranged, but escaping the Zoo, much less England is more difficult," _Harry hissed

_ss"There are only three of us, Speaker. Take us with you, and send us on our way."_

Harry grinned and looked at Severus, while the rest of the crowd had fled.

"What about it, kid? Up to some breaking and entering?"

Severus nodded eagerly. Harry pointed at two glass windows, behind which were VERY excited snakes.

"Vanish the glass," Harry said.

_ss"Come to me," _he hissed at the snakes.

Severus Vanished the glass, and while Harry was busy getting the snakes to properly curl around various bodyparts so they could all portkey back, he saw a small garden snake in a tiny box. It looked very unhappy, and Harry did say they were going to make mischief and free the snakes that wanted to be free...

He quickly took off the lid and pocketed the snake carefully just as he heard Harry call him over.

"Ready?"

Severus nodded, and soon they were back at the Bungalow, in a tangle of snake, human, and packages of shopping.

Harry doubled over in laughter and high-fived Severus.

"Well done, Sevvy," he grinned, "did you see the faces of those people?"

Severus' eyes shone as he managed to get up without crushing the small snake.

Harry sat down on the floor, discussing the next course of action with the three large snakes. Severus curled in a corner, petting the tiny snake that had curled around his arm.

"Severus, I'm going to ask Griphook to help me relocate our guests. I'll be at the floo for a while, ok?"

Severus nodded quietly, shielding his strange bracelet from view.

After half an hour, Harry returned, happy.

"All three are off. Griphook knew a couple of people in the parts of the world where they came from…Severus! Is that a snake around your arm?"

Severus bit his lip, looking at his feet and nodding.

"He…he looked so lonely, and I couldn't leave him, I mean, we were setting them free…please don't be mad," he looked up at Harry in fear.

Harry shook his head and slung an arm around the thin shoulders.

"'Course not. I put you up to it, after all. But let me talk to your new friend."

Taking the snake from Severus, he talked to it for a while. Then he gave it back with a smile.

"First of all, 'he' is a 'she'. Secondly, you were absolutely right. She did feel lonely. She likes you, but she would like to be able to go outside to hunt too. Don't keep her in a cage," he warned the boy.

Severus smiled brightly as he patted the little head.

"Are you going to come play with me sometimes?" he asked.

The snake clearly nodded.

"I'll build you a shelter in the garden," Severus promised as he put her on the floor.

Harry hissed at the snake, which nodded again before moving slowly towards the back yard, where she found a spot in the sun, near the wall of the house.

"Now, Severus," Harry said, "How about we try out that new broom of yours?"

Somewhere in the far north, Arthur Weasley rushed to his wife excitedly.

"We caught Severus' magical signature somewhere in London. It was too brief to pinpoint the exact location, but we are sure it was him. He is alive!"


	11. Chapter 11

Two days after their memorable visit to the Zoo, Harry sat in the living room while Severus was playing in the bathtub.

At Flourish and Blott's, he had discovered a wizard story book, and, curious, he had bought it.

Severus walked into the room, his hair damp, in his pyjamas, to see Harry reading a children's book.

"Harry?"

Harry guiltily closed the book and hid it, but Severus climbed onto the couch next to him, pulling out the book and looking at him with large, black eyes.

"Why were you reading this? Isn't this for little kids?"

Trying by an act of the will not to blush, Harry nodded.

"I…I bought it at the bookshop," he said, "I never had books when I was little. You weren't allowed children's books either, were you?"

Severus shook his head.

"Come here, then," Harry said, lifting the boy on his lap, "I'll read to you."

Severus allowed the cuddle, but looked indignant at the mention of being read to.

"I can read!" he protested.

"I know you can," Harry smiled, "But sometimes it's nice to have someone read to you. Just try it, ok? If you don't like it you won't have to do it again."

Half an hour later, Harry looked down from the book to see Severus asleep with his head against Harry's chest, one thumb in his mouth.

-The previous day, London-

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

Growling in frustration, Arthur Weasley paced an office of the Ministry.

"We HAD his signature. Why can't we pinpoint it?"

Alastor Moody sighed. "Because it was very brief, and probably other people used magic after he did. It'd be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. We know the boy was in London yesterday. The question is, where is he now?"

Arthur nodded. "He might still be in London for all we know. If only he was considered a minor, we could trace him much better."

Moody looked up and grinned. "You know, Arthur, you're on to something there."

He took the man by the sleeve of his robe and dragged him to the Registration department.

"Hey, Darren. I need some help," he greeted the young man behind the desk.

"Hi Mad-Eye. How illegal is it?"

Moody growled in approval. "Not illegal, just…very secret. A lot of people could…"

"Be in danger if it were to leak out, yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before," the young wizard smiled, and waved at the archives.

"You know, I have the sudden need to go to the bathroom and have a butterbeer. I don't suppose you could mind the shop for a few minutes, could you?"

The large, blue, innocent eyes were almost believable. Almost.

"Here it is," Moody said, "Snape's file. We just put the Underage Magic tracker back on and install it to go back to…when did he disappear?"

"Nearly three weeks ago," Arthur said.

Moody set the date, and smiled, satisfied.

SEVERUS SNAPE

Spells performed:

Unknown, location unknown

Unknown, location unknown

Unknown…

"This list goes on for a bit, apparently he's somewhere they can't trace the spells or him. But this is the one we were looking for."

Evanesco, Reptile House, London Zoo.

"The ZOO?" Arthur asked, shocked.

"We are besides ourselves with worry whether or not he is alive, and he visits the ZOO?"

Moody smirked. "He doesn't know you are worried, does he? I'd check your in-tray if I were you, Arthur. I bet there's a complaint from the Zoo in there. If he did an Evanesco in the Reptile House, I fear the worst."

Darren returned, smiling.

"Thanks, Mad-Eye. I didn't ask you to do my job for me though! Here, let me file that for you…"

"Darren," Moody said, "Do you happen to know if there were any incidents in the London Zoo yesterday?"

Darren nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yes, we hushed it up because there were Muggles involved, but it seems three of their snakes have escaped. Or rather, were helped to escape by an unknown wizard Vanishing the glass of their enclosures. Just an upset kid with a bout of accidental magic if you ask me, but hey…better safe then sorry."

Arthur and Moody groaned.

-Spinner's End, that evening-

"Sshhhh, Pomona, don't push me."

"That's not me, it's Filius."

"Quiet," Arthur Weasley urged, "Remember, Poppy and I through the front, the rest through the back, and lock the doors behind you so he can't slip out. Then search the house. Every nook and cranny."

Poppy shuffled upstairs as they entered the small, dirty hallway. Arthur locked the front door and entered the living room.

A quick search upstairs yielded no six-years-old.

As Poppy walked back down and towards the kitchen, she bumped into a small body and grabbed it.

"I've got him! I have him!" she yelled.

"Lemme go, put me down!" she heard, and the little arms and legs flailed so badly she had to grab hold of the beard.

Wait…the beard? Since when do small boys have beards?

Arthur and Pomona rushed in, lighting the room enough to see the nurse holding a protesting Charms professor in a tight hold.

Poppy dropped Flitwick to the floor and went red with embarrassment.

Arthur and Pomona bit their lips and tried hard not to laugh.

"Well," the tiny professor said, dusting off his robes, "The boy is not here. Can we GO now?"

-Hogwarts-

Minerva entered the Headmaster's outer office and waited for the Grey Lady to appear.

Which she promptly did, floating through a wall.

"Hello, Minerva. How can I help you?"

Minerva smiled. "How is Albus doing?"

The Grey Lady sat down…well, floated in a chair.

"He's having a relapse," she said, "It started yesterday when he realized that Severus might well have died after being gone for so long. His first defense mechanism is still to suppress all feelings towards the boy and replace them by indifference or hate. He'll get through it, though, he doesn't even really believe it himself anymore."

"So I can't see him? Because we have good news."

The Grey Lady looked up, excited.

"What news?"

"Severus is alive. We don't know where he is of yet; except that he was in London the day before yesterday. But we traced his magical signature when he tried a spell. He was at the Zoo."

"That IS good news. I will relay it to him. I'm sorry I can't let you see him now, but he is asleep. Oh, he did say something though. About Harry. He said Remus should know where to find him. Apparently it has to do with the houses James and Lily owned."

-Later, Order meeting-

"Do you know what he means, Remus?"

The werewolf sat in thought for a moment. "I think so. James told me about some properties he owned. He looked forward to living in one because it had a Quidditch pitch…the bungalow, he called it. It should be somewhere near the Scottish border and in a remote location. There is, of course, the house he built for Lily but didn't live there for very long."

"Well, this means we can track down Harry. Did he respond to the letter?"

"Yes; and made it clear he doesn't trust us. He said he is fine, but I'd feel better seeing him for myself."

Minerva nodded.

"And Severus?" she turned to Arthur Weasley.

"We tracked him to London, but then lost him. We did spell his record at the Ministry. If he does magic again, we're alerted and able to find him. The only problem seems to be that he is somewhere that the Underage Magic trackers can't pick up on. Like a house with some proper warding. We feared already that Lucius Malfoy has him, but he wouldn't take him to the Zoo; he would bring him to Voldemort."

-Bungalow-

"Circe?"

Severus searched the garden for the small snake he had named after a witch on a chocolate frog card.

"Circe?"

Not on her normal spot. Not in the rest of the garden. He contemplated asking Harry to call her, but shrugged. He was a big boy. No need to rely on Harry for everything.

He reached the low fence surrounding the yard, but there was still no trace of his snake. Then he saw something; a hawk had apparently spotted prey and was closing in. Severus, following its gaze, paled.

Circe was about to be bird lunch.

Without thinking, he climbed over the fence and ran towards the snake as the hawk swooped down.

"NO! GO AWAY!"

A fraction of a second before the bird landed, he shouted the first thing that came to mind.

"ACCIO CIRCE!"

He quickly climbed back over the fence and stood trembling, his snake in his hands.

"Don't go outside the fence," he said weakly, "Stay in the yard. It's not safe."

He held the head close to his face.

"We need to go back," he said, uneasy now that the first shock had worn off.

About fifteen minutes later, Alastor Moody got a Floo call from Darren that a certain spell on a certain file had gone off.


	12. Chapter 12

-Hogwarts-

"Minerva! Minerva!"

The deputy headmistress looked up from her work.

"Poppy? Pomona?"

The two women nearly skidded to a halt in front of her desk.

"Severus…we found Severus…thought you'd want to come…"

Minerva dropped what she was holding.

"Is he ok? Where has he been hiding? Did someone go and retrieve him yet? How did you…"

"'Nerva!" Poppy scolded, "Calm down. We've located him, Arthur and Filius are waiting for us downstairs. We're going to take him home."

-The Burrow-

Remus came in, smiling broadly.

"I've found it. I did some very extensive searching in the Ministry archive, and in some obscure cabinet were some old transaction papers. I found the one James's grandfather filed when he purchased ground near the Scottish border. Ten to one that he built the Bungalow James told us about there."

Molly Weasley looked excited.

"So…that's where Harry is?"

Remus nodded. "He might very well be. So…"

Molly waved her wand, and the food she was cooking removed itself from the stove.

"Let's get going then," she said matter-of-factly.

Ron and Hermione looked at her.

"I thought we'd agreed Harry doesn't need to be pushed, and we'd just send him letters," Hermione said tentatively.

Molly and Remus stared at the teens.

"But we know where he is now," they said, "we can go take him home. That was our objective."

Ron turned red and looked at his mother angrily.

"Harry doesn't WANT to be found. If he's at his family's house, he is perfectly fine. You promised him you wouldn't try and force him to go anywhere."

"RONALD WEASLEY!" his mother said sternly, "We are going to retrieve Harry and bring him back here. And then I'll give that young man a piece of my mind about running away like that. He could have come here."

"But…"

"We are going to collect him," the two adults said, "You can come or you can stay here."

Hermione pulled herself up from her chair.

"We are not going with you. You _promised_ him! You promised you wouldn't try any of this."

"Fine, then," Molly Weasley snapped, before she and Remus left through the floo.

"I can't believe them!" Ron grumbled, "I mean…yeah, we wanted to find Harry too, but after he wrote and said he was fine, I figured we'd just see him in Diagon Alley. I just wanted him away from those dreadful Muggles."

Hermione nodded. "I suppose they mean well, but honestly I'm beginning to think, Ron, that the problem was never so much Dumbledore as it was the Order members themselves…"

Ron scowled. "No brain whatsoever. How about we go find Fred and George? Maybe they have a way of finding Harry ahead of them and warn him."

-Bungalow-

"It should be here somewhere…"

"That house over there!"

"Well…it looks like that's the one."

Remus and Molly fought a way through the bushes that surrounded the house.

"OUCH, Remus, why did you stop suddenly."

"Because he ran into me," Minerva's annoyed voice said.

"Minerva? What are you doing here?"

"Arthur?" said Molly Weasley, spotting her husband.

"We're here because we have reason to believe Severus is around here somewhere," her husband answered.

"And WE are here because we have reason to believe that house over there is Harry's hiding place," Molly added.

The members of both groups stared at each other in confusion.

"Severus…and Harry…together?" Minerva finally voiced the question that went through everyone's mind.

Remus shook his head.

"It would seem that way. Come on."

As they approached the house, they saw a small boy playing in the yard, seperated from the rest of the terrain by a low fence.

"Severus," Minerva breathed, her eyes a bit moist at seeing the little potions master safe and sound.

They carefully walked up to the fence, not wanting to alert the child.

"Let's go get him," Pomona said, trying to enter the fence…and bouncing off a set of powerful wards.

Severus looked up, startled. A panicked look crossed the small face when he recognized Minerva, Pomona and Poppy.

Another boy came running from the house, a teenager with messy black hair.

The child ran straight towards him, and both teams watched in amazement as the boy leapt in his arms, wrapped his legs around the teen's waist and his arms around his neck.

"Harry, Harry, they'll get me, help me," they heard him cry in terror.

The members of his search team all felt their eyes mist over as they realized just how scared the little boy was.

Molly Weasley, having tried to enter as well and being repelled by the wards, put her hands on her hips.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! Let us in right now!"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "No, I don't think so. What happened to 'We will not force you into anything'? I told you I was fine. Why couldn't you just leave me alone?"

Remus answered. "Harry, you are too young to fend for yourself, we wanted…"

Harry, his arms still around the sniffling child, exploded.

"Too young to fend for myself, Remus? What right do you have to judge that? Was I too young to be abused by my relatives? Starved? Beaten? Neglected?

Was I too young to be made responsible for saving the whole bloody Wizarding World, who would rather throw a child into the fray then stand up as a whole against one, ONE stupid wannabe tyrant?

Honestly, you'll have to find a better reason then THAT, because it's a big fat lie. You knew I wasn't happy, to put it gently, at the Dursley's, but you let Dumbledore send me back. Yeah, he said he knew best and that I had to, but if you all had bothered to stand up to him, he couldn't have done much either, could he? At least HE has the excuse that too much responsibility finally took it's toll and made him ill."

Severus, having clung tightly to Harry even during the tirade, opened his eyes in surprise. The old man that had been mean to him had been ill? Was that why he had been mean? He shuddered. Those people had found them. They would be taken away to that awful place now. Mother had been right about that, at least. It was a nasty place. Those witches had been nice, but they worked for the mean ill wizard. Harry said so.

Suddenly a very grave thought hit him. What if the nasty people were here now because he went outside the wards and did magic? Was it his fault? He had only wanted to help Circe. The nasty people would take them away, and Harry would be very mad at him because it was his fault, and then he'd be all alone again.

Tears ran down his face and he felt Harry automatically tighten his hold to comfort him.

Molly and Remus were dumbfound by the young man's rant. But Harry wasn't done yet.

"Was I too young to see Quirrel die, Remus? Or Cedric? Or Sirius? Hear my parents every time a Dementor comes near? Hell, even coming near a Dementor is something I'm apparently not too young for. So please, don't start saying now that I'm too young to fend for myself in a house that belonged to my family, is designed to protect me, and where no one beats me or starves me. I've had to fend for myself since I was two years old.

And you, Mrs Weasley…I know you mean well and you want to care for me, but you can't go ordering me around. You can't break promises just because you are the adult, and you cannot assume you always know better. As we can see from recent events, that is not true. So I suggest you just leave here, assured that we are perfectly fine and happy, and I'll see you, professors, on September first."

Arthur Weasley cleared his throat.

"Harry…we came here for Severus too. We didn't…expect to find him in your care, and we're very much reassured that he is well…"

They half expected to see Harry drop the child in horror as he realized that this was his potions master, but Harry merely nodded.

"You knew?"

"He IS six years old, Mr Weasley. He is perfectly capable of telling me his name, and can actually relay information from his memories. Yes, I've known since about half an hour after I met him."

"Then you know, or suspect what happened to him."

"Yes," Harry said impatiently, stroking the dark hair as he felt Severus sniffle a little.

"We are looking for a solution, to turn him into an adult again," Flitwick said, "but first and foremost, we wanted to know he was safe. We've been so worried about him."

"That's good to know," Harry said, "But I won't let you take him. He stays with me."

Molly Weasley found her voice again.

"You can't take care of a child!" she said indignantly.

"Why ever not, Mrs Weasley? I have been taking care of him for three weeks now, and as you can see, he is, apart from upset at the moment, perfectly fine and healthy."

"Harry, we would take good care of him," Poppy said.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Must I remind you that your previous record on caring for a child suddenly left in your care is not exactly…shall we say, spotless?" he sneered.

Then he turned to Remus.

"Weren't Ron and Hermione in your little search team too?"

"They were upset when they heard we were going here," Remus admitted, "and didn't want to be part of it."

Harry nodded in satisfaction. His friends had not let him down.

"So, now that you know how I feel about matters, we are going in to have lunch. I'm sorry I can't invite you to join us."

That said, he turned around, and started for the house, leaving a group of very flushed adults behind.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N This chapter has been delayed because either my computer or ffn had a bit of a strike and wouldn't let me upload anything. I also finally managed to upload the beta'ed versions of chapters 10-12.**

Walking back, Harry distinctly heard Mrs Weasley say "Bill will be able to…" 

He groaned. The eldest Weasley brother was a curse breaker and would be able to get through the wards, given enough time. The Order was not going to leave now that they had found them. They were trapped.

Once inside, he shifted Severus to one hip while tapping his face thoughtfully.

"What to do, what to do…we're stuck. We'll have to leave. Going to the cottage won't do any good, they'll have figured out where it is as well…"

He lowered Severus to the floor as he started inspecting the cupboards.

"And not that much food left either."

Suddenly he heard a sob, and turned around to comfort the child.

To his surprise, Severus drew back from him, pale and trembling.

"Sevvy, what is it? I'm not going to let them take you, you know that."

Severus sniffed. Of course Harry would be mad. He would drag him to those people and hand him over soon. Or maybe he would even hit him?

But there was nothing else to it. It was his fault; Harry needed to know that. He had gotten Harry in trouble with the scary angry red-haired lady.

"I…it's my fault…" he whispered, staring at the floor.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"Because…because…I went…outside the fence…" Severus stammered, wiping his tear stained face with his sleeve, only managing to get more dirt on it.

"Why?"

Severus looked up. Harry hadn't yelled at him yet, like he had expected. Now he wanted to know why? He was allowed to explain?

"Circe…Circe was outside the fence…and a bird wanted to hurt her…I didn't think…I Summoned her just in time…I did magic. I'm sorry, Harry, please don't give me to them, please, Harry, I'll be good!"

Harry stared at the boy for a few moments, taken aback with the desperate plea, before he scooped the child up and held him close.

"Sshhhhhh, Sevvy, calm down. I'm not sending you away. Come here," he put his handkerchief under the tap and proceeded to wash the boy's face.

"It's possible that they came here because they tracked your magic," he said softly, "but I already let you do magic in London, remember? Maybe they got a lead on us there. If Hedwig had been in danger, I would probably have done the same as you did. Is Circe alright?"

Severus nodded, and hiccuped once before putting his head on Harry's shoulder.

"Are you angry? Are you going to punish me?"

"No," Harry patted him on his back, "I would probably have grounded you for the day, but I think the fright you got when that lot over there showed up, was more punishment than you deserved."

"What are we going to do now, Harry?" Severus asked in a tiny voice.

He was frightened, but not so much anymore. Harry wasn't angry with him. He was very sad that they would leave the Bungalow – but as long as his 'big brother' was with him, he would be fine.

Suddenly Hedwig swooped in, carrying a letter which she clearly wanted Harry to read; she hopped up and down on the table, hooting at him.

"Yes, yes, girl, I'm coming," Harry said, untying the string.

"It's from Ron and Hermione," he said in surprise.

"_Dear Harry,_

_We don't know if this letter gets there in time. If Mum and Remus haven't shown up yet, flee. They're on their way and intend to bring you back. We're sorry; we only joined the search party because we wanted to be sure you were safe, we never meant to co-operate with something like this._

_We have left the Burrow and are staying at Fred and George's place in Diagon Alley. We're trying to come up with a plan to help you. Meet up with us, if you are forced to run, as soon as you can. _

_See you soon!_

_Ron and Hermione."_

Harry looked at Severus. "Looks like we're not alone anymore," he grinned.

-Hogwarts-

Dumbledore sat in his armchair in front of the window, overlooking the grounds. He sighed. After catching up on a lot of sleep and eating properly, he was physically feeling better.

He was improving, he knew that. He didn't feel as desperate or as overwhelmed anymore.

The Grey Lady entered.

"Hello, Albus. How are you today?"

He smiled sadly. "I'm…preoccupied," he admitted, "I keep thinking about Harry and Severus. How am I ever going to make up for what I did?"

"Yes, that will be quite difficult. Especially now that the Order is holding them prisoner in Harry's house."

"WHAT?" Dumbledore shot up from his chair.

The Grey Lady nodded. "Apparently, Molly Weasley and Remus Lupin, despite having promised Harry that they would not force him into anything, have gone back on their promise as soon as they found out where he was. Coincidentally, Arthur's team traced Severus. They met up at the border of the wards on the Potter house. Harry ran into Severus the day after they disappeared, and they have been together ever since. Minerva said Harry had quite a tantrum when they showed up."

Dumbledore grimaced. "I can imagine. I remember the tantrum he threw in here. But what are they doing? Have they learned nothing from my mistakes, then?"

"Apparently not," the ghost said. Then she smiled.

"I have one more bit of information, but no one knows about it. Harry's owl apparently thought I should know, as she came by. Ron and Hermione did want to respect Harry's wishes, and when the others went to retrieve him, they fled to Ron's twin brothers. They have sworn to help Harry."

Dumbledore smiled. "Maybe I can help them…Let me write a letter."

-93, Diagon Alley-

The twins entered the apartment over their shop where the other two were sitting.

"Hello, did anything…"

"Unusual happen while we worked?"

Hermione grinned. "Fawkes came by."

The twins raised identical eyebrows.

"He delivered a letter from the headmaster, and something else. Look!"

She shoved something in the twins's hands. A clock.

A smaller version of Molly Weasley's clock.

Two hands were on it; Harry and Severus. Both pointing to 'Bungalow' and 'trapped'.

"It has two outer rings, one for location and one for circumstances. The rings move as well as the hands. Apparently we only have to touch our wands to it to add our own hands to the clock. This way we can react quickly if Harry…"

Suddenly the rings spun, and the hands changed to 'Travelling' and 'safe'.

"As you can see, Harry and Professor Snape are apparently together," Ron said.

The twins shrugged. "Snape is six years old now. Just a kid."

"Well, anyway, we can keep an eye on Harry like this, and help him quickly if he is in trouble. "

"And DUMBLEDORE sent this?" George asked.

"He sent a letter, and this clock. He says he is doing much better and is feeling horrible about what he did to both Severus and Harry. He wanted to help, so he made this clock. He commends us for not making his, and the Order's, mistakes. It actually sounds like he is encouraging us…"

-Bungalow, a little earlier-

"Do you plan to leave any time soon?" Harry asked Molly Weasley.

"Not without you," she said sternly, "you two should come with us. So stop this nonsense and let us in. We will let you spend the rest of your holidays at the Burrow."

Harry choked back his anger.

"Harry," Arthur said, "could I have a word in private?"

Harry nodded with a frown, and they moved away from the others, still on either side of the fence.

"Harry, Minerva, Poppy, Pomona, Filius and I were here because we were searching for Severus. We can see that he is doing fine, and I'm very glad for that."

Harry smiled slightly. "I couldn't very well let him starve on the streets, could I?"

Arthur returned the smile warmly before his face fell. "Harry…when we set out to search for him…we ran across his diary. We agreed we should search it for clues, but since we didn't want to invade his privacy too much, only I have read it. Harry…what I read about his life…"

"Wasn't pretty. Yes, I know. He remembers nothing but the first six years of his life, and that is more then enough. His adult memory only surfaces in his nightmares. He thinks they are just nightmares about the scary man he's seen the night he was de-aged, but I know he dreams his memories. His adult memories."

Arthur sighed. "Filius and Minerva are looking for a countercurse, but we haven't had any luck so far with that. Molly and I…well. You see, we had planned to take Severus in ourselves when he was found and give him a happy childhood. That's why Molly is so insistant to bring the two of you to the Burrow."

Harry leveled the man with a piercing gaze. "I think you are wonderful people, Mr Weasley. But I won't let Sevvy grow up with people who won't listen to him whenever they've been blinded by what another adult says, and break their promises. I'm sorry, but while you still have my love, you have lost yourself my trust."

With a sad look on his face, Arthur watched the boy walk back to the house.

"Sevvy!" Harry called.

Severus walked into the livingroom.

"I've found Circe," Harry said, handing the snake to the boy, "Come, help me pack. We're leaving."

"Where are we going, Harry?" Severus asked.

"We'll take the portkey back to the house in York. From there, we'll take the train to London and meet up with my friends."

"Why don't we go directly to London, like earlier?"

"Because that's too easy to trace. It's safer to take Muggle transportation for now and stay in the Muggle world until we find Ron and 'Mione."

Severus hung his head. "I'm sorry, Harry…"

He was going to meet Harry's friends. What would they be like? They must have been his students when he was grown up; they would probably not like him much. Meeting new people was scary. If only he hadn't left the wards…

Suddenly he felt a hand on his hair.

"It's ok, Sevvy. It's not your fault that they have us trapped in here now. In a few hours we'll be with my friends and they'll help us."

"Famous last words," Harry thought to himself. He quickly shrugged it off. They needed to get going.

-Outside-

"Hey Mum. What can I do for you?"

"Hello, Bill, dear. We need to bring down the wards on this place."

"Sure thing, Mum. Let me go work on…OUCH."

"What is it, dear?" Molly asked, worried.

"I was just touching the warding and then I felt a surge. Must be quite some wards."

Inside, the portkey had activated. Harry and Severus landed in York.

They quickly made their way to the station and boarded the train. Severus sat in wonder. He had never been on a train before.

"Harry?" he asked, after a while, when he had gotten used to the novelty.

"Yes?"

"You said…you said that the mean old man, the Headmaster, that he is ill?"

Harry looked up. "Yes, Sevvy. When you were there, did you see him work?"

Severus nodded. "He never stopped working, and there was a lot of paper on his desk, and always people Floo'ing him for help."

"Precisely. And it has been like that for years and years. He couldn't sleep much because of all the work. He got ill. He has probably been ill for a very long time, but no one noticed because they needed him to do the work. He probably didn't mean the nasty things he did to you. Or to me for that matter," Harry added thoughtfully, more to himself then to the boy.

None of them noticed the man sitting at the other end of the compartment, gloating behind his newspaper. His Lord would be very pleased with the news he had to share.


	14. Chapter 14

They had to change trains once during the trip to London. Harry made sure to keep a firm grip on Severus's hand so he wouldn't lose the little boy in the crowd, but Severus wasn't prone to running away.

Harry bought them both a packet of crisps and a drink before they boarded their next train.

_-Meanwhile, in Lord Voldemort's lair-_

"Master, Master!"

"Why are you running into my presence uninvited? Cru…"

"Master, I saw Harry Potter and the traitor!"

"Cru…you what?"

"They're on the train, headed to London, master. I slipped out when they changed trains and came to you to request backup, master."

Voldemort looked pleased, but Malfoy raised an elegant eyebrow.

"What were you doing on…Muggle transportation, Quincy?"

The Death Eater squirmed, but Voldemort waved it off.

"Don't bother with the usual lies, Quincy, I know you're a halfblood."

The Death Eater paled and started sweating. "My lord…"

Voldemort stopped him. "But, you have always served me well and this information is priceless. And your desire to rid yourself of your Muggle ancestry is admirable. Malfoy, make sure he faces no hardship from the rest of you over this."

"Thank you, my lord, thank you," Quincy managed.

Voldemort nodded curtly.

"It's fortunate you were in the Muggle world today, but I expect PROPER wizard conduct from now on, Quincy. And get a team together. I want Snape and Potter. Preferably alive."

Malfoy and Quincy moved off quickly, glad to have found their cruel master in such a forgiving mood.

_-93, Diagon Alley, an hour later-_

The clock moved. The outer ring still was on 'travelling' but the inner had now settled on 'under attack'.

_-London, King's Cross-_

"Are we nearly there, Harry?" Severus asked, tired and cranky from travelling.

"Yes, Sevvy. Come here, we're gonna get into this alley to put our glamours on before going into the wizarding world."

Just as Harry pulled out his wand to start casting the glamours, they heard a familiar voice.

"Well, well, Mr Potter. Into childcare these days, are you?"

Lucius Malfoy sneered at them both, two death eaters behind him.

Lucius walked up to Severus, and took his chin roughly.

"My, my, you do make a nice child, Snape."

Severus wrenched his face free from the man's grasp and hid behind Harry's legs.

"Leave him alone, Malfoy," Harry spat, while his eyes took in the surroundings.

"Just because you say so? Well…I'll just have to say…CRUCIO!"

Malfoy whipped out his wand and aimed the curse at the boy. Harry grabbed Severus and got them both out of the way.

"Still torturing children, I see, Malfoy," he taunted, "Expelliarmus! Protego!"

Four hexes were deflected from the shield, but the Expelliarmus didn't do much good. Malfoy frowned.

"Let's just make this easy on both of us, Potter. Come with me. The Dark Lord has ordered you alive. He will wish for you to join him. And Severus…well, that's why he changed him in the first place. To show him the 'tender mercies' of the Light side. Don't you have…experience…with that too, Potter?"

Harry hesitated.

"Ah, already considering a glorious future in the service of the greatest wizard ever, aren't you?" Lucius smiled.

"Well…" Harry said, pulling Severus behind him, "Let's see. I'll send in my application to join you when…ooh, let's say, when Hell freezes over? That soon enough for you?"

"Insolent child!" the Death Eater hissed, "Stupify!"

"Progeto! Stupify, Stupify," Harry shouted suddenly, catching the two others off guard.

"You will pay for this, Potter! Sectumsempra!"

The hex, aimed at Severus, sliced Harry badly when he jumped in front of the terrified child.

"Run, Sevvy," he whispered.

The boy didn't move.

"Bindus!" Malfoy yelled, and Harry fell to the floor, wresting against his bonds.

"Well, Potter," Malfoy hissed, his eyes gleaming, "My lord DID say 'preferably alive'. He'll be happy enough I bring back the brat alive. So…Avada…"

"PETRIFICUS TOTALIS!"

Severus stared in shock as the spell he had uttered hit the scary man who wanted to hurt Harry. He started crying. There was blood all over Harry and Harry was looking so pale!

Harry looked up and smiled. "Well done, Sevvy, very well done. I'm…so proud…of you…"

"NOOOOO, Harry, noooo, don't die, Harry, don't die," Severus sobbed, trying to shake Harry, who had closed his eyes and didn't respond.

_-93, Diagon Alley-_

Hermione entered with a bag full of shopping when she heard the clock spinning. Looking at it, she paled.

"FRED! GEORGE! ROOOON!"

_-The Bungalow-_

Remus walked up to Molly, handing her a hot coffee.

"How's Bill doing with those wards?"

"They're nearly done, he says. At least the ones that keep us out."

"You're right, wouldn't do to disable them all."

Molly peered at the house.

"I haven't seen a sign of those boys in hours…" she said, worried.

"MOM! The ward is down!"

Remus dropped his mug.

"Good, now, we need to be quick. Molly, Arthur, we go round the back. The rest take the front."

After a quick move, they reached the house. Entering was easy; the doors weren't locked.

The place was suspiciously empty. Arthur did a quick scan of the house; no one.

"They're gone," he said, defeated.

Remus groaned. "The portkey. They had James's portkey."

Molly ignored the tears streaming down her face. "We lost them…again," she sobbed, "who knows where they are now?"

_-Harry and Sevvy-_

Severus sobbed helplessly, Harry wasn't moving, and the scary men would wake up and kill Harry. If Harry wasn't dead already.

"No, Harry, please don't be dead…" he whimpered.

Suddenly he heard footsteps, and before he knew it, four redheaded people stood by them.

"Dear sweet Merlin, what happened here?"

"No time, Ron, we have to get Harry stabilized. Hold his mouth open, I need to put in a bloodreplenishing potion."

A hand took Harry's chin and wrenched his mouth open while another red headed person, who looked like a copy of the first one, cast a spell and the cut on Harry's chest disappeared.

The only woman of the four took his arm.

"Why don't you stand over here, and give them some room to work," she said kindly, "are you hurt? What happened?"

Severus rubbed his dirty fists in his eyes, trying to dry his tears.

"They…sob attacked us…sob…Harry called that one…sob Malfoy and he…sob hurt Harry and now Harry won't move…" the high, childish voice reached hysterical proportions.

Hermione knew that this was supposed to be their fearsome potions master, but she couldn't help herself. He was just a small child now, a very scared and upset child. She took him in her arms and cuddled him.

"Harry's going to be fine," she reassured him, "He'll be ok, we'll take good care of him. Ron!"

The third red headed boy walked over.

"He's too heavy for me to carry back to the Alley," she said, "you take him. Fred and George are Apparating with Harry, I guess?"

Severus looked at the tall boy with some distrust. "Harry…"

Hermione soothed him. "Harry is coming too, but we can't apparate yet. We go on foot. Ron will carry you."

Severus nodded, very tired, and he just held his arms up to the boy to be lifted. The boy looked at him in surprise, before picking him up and putting him on his shoulder.

"It's not far," he said to the boy.

Severus nodded. He was sitting really high now and he was glad he didn't have to walk anymore. If these were Harry's friends, as he thought since they were apparently called Ron and Hermione, then maybe they weren't as scary as he had thought.

He looked over his shoulder, and saw the two the same looking men disappear with Harry.

He sighed, deep and sad, and rested his head on the red mass of hair beneath his chin.


	15. Chapter 15

_-Hogwarts-_

"I can't believe they are gone!" Molly shouted, "how could they just LEAVE like that!"

The others in the room nodded in agreement, when an irritated ghost floated through the wall.

"What's with all the noise?" the Grey Lady asked, "even we ghosts occasionally need our rest, you know."

"Harry and Severus," Minerva said, upset, "we had them trapped and they escaped!"

The Lady raised her ghostly eyebrows. "You had them…trapped?" she inquired icily.

"We located them in one of the Potter's houses," Molly said in a huff, "Harry just ranted at us and refused to lift the wards to let us in and take them back to Hogwarts or the Burrow. We had Bill come over to break down the ward keeping us out, but when we stormed the house they were gone."

The Grey Lady shook her head, angry. "Will you listen to yourselves? Located them. Trapped them. Break down wards. STORM the house, for Merlin's sake! I'd think you were talking about criminals, not people you wish to protect."

Molly spluttered, Remus protested and the others just stared dumbfounded.

"The whole story, please," the ghost tapped her feet in the air impatiently.

Arthur nodded and started relaying the day's events.

"You have just committed the same mistakes that you blamed Albus for," the ghost said sternly when he had finished, "You were angry with Albus for how he treated Harry, yet you are doing the very same thing now! You broke your promise to him. You people have a lot to sort out before you are ready to care for the boys in a responsible manner."

Remus sagged. "We just want to care for them…"

"By breaking your promises? By cornering them so they feel forced to flee? You have done nothing to gain Harry's trust, and if you continue in this manner, you will lose his love too. Tell me, what did you plan to do had you captured them both?"

Molly snorted. "I would have hugged them silly, and then I would have grounded them for the rest of the summer."

"Same here," Remus said, "and I guess that goes for the rest of us too."

The Grey Lady sighed. "Despite the fact that none of you can claim a relationship of trust with Harry? And if that isn't bad enough, you are confusing him."

"How?" Arthur asked, who, contrary to his wife, did seem to listen closely.

"It is very unclear who Harry's 'parental figures' should be. Right now, every adult in his life is allowed to dictate his behavior and punish him whenever they feel like it. Would you allow that for your own children?" she asked Arthur, who sighed.

"No," he admitted, "even at school, the teachers are allowed to punish them only up to a certain point. Anything major, and we are invited over because it is our decision."

"Yes. And you can protect your children if they are punished unfairly. But Harry never had that. He is used to unfair treatment, and no one so far has ever bothered to listen to his side of the story. You always just go ahead and decide what is good for him without even asking for his opinion. And besides that, he is 16. Arthur, would you allow just anyone to come in and start ordering you around?"

"No, of course not."

"Precisely. You decide who has authority over you and who doesn't. That's natural. As adults, we control that by the choices we make. You choose who to work for, who to respect. Teens start doing that by rebelling against all authority. It's normal teen behavior and part of the process of growing up and becoming independant adults. Most of them calm down and see reason, especially when their parents are aware of this process and provide them with more freedom and responsibility, corresponding with their age. Yet Harry, who is due to his upbringing, much older than his years, is treated like a toddler by just about anyone."

Arthur sat down sadly.

"So basically, Harry has no reason to trust adults, and we have not proven ourselves trustworthy. And apart from that, we ignore his problems, the things he should be able to talk to us about, in favor of dictating his actions. Or trying to, anyway."

The Grey Lady nodded.

"You are in very real danger of losing not only Harry, but also your own children if you keep this up," she warned gravely, "because his friends will side with him."

"And…and Severus?" Pomona asked.

"Severus apparently wants to be with Harry, from what I've heard," the Grey Lady answered as she started to float back to the wall, "and Harry is perhaps the one who understands him best. Certainly none of you qualify at the moment."

_-93, Diagon Alley-_

Hermione and Ron entered WWW, Ron still carrying the nearly asleep boy. He looked a bit awkward, having his potions master asleep on his shoulders with his cheek resting on the top of his head. Had she not been so concerned over Harry, Hermione would have snickered at the look on his face.

Entering the livingroom, she immediately checked the clock.

They had recently added their own faces to it. Hers, Ron's and Severus's now all were on 'WWW' and 'safe'.

The twins were in the same location, but on 'stressed'. Harry's was on 'mortal peril'.

Taking Severus off his shoulders, Ron stretched a bit. The boy was swaying on his feet, but looked up at them in tears.

"Harry?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head. "We don't know yet," she admitted, staring at the clock.

Severus now noticed it too, and climbed on a chair to watch Harry's picture.

Finally, he fell asleep with his head in his arms, not awake long enough to see Harry's face move from 'mortal peril' to 'recovering'.

Ron and Hermione did see it and smiled happily.

"How come your brothers know so much about healing?" Hermione asked.

"Well, they do tend to get injured a lot creating their gags," Ron shrugged, "they always were good at potions, and managed to get Pomfrey to teach them some healing. But shouldn't we put him to bed?" he pointed at Severus slightly hesitatingly, "he seems tired."

Hermione nodded. "I'll transfigure the sofa in the library," she said, "Can you carry him there?"

Ron sighed, and carefully lifted the sleeping Severus in his arms. Asleep, and so young, the potions master seemed just a regular kid, he contemplated. And according to his father, he had also been an abused child. That would explain a bit of why the man was always such a…

"Ron, are you coming?"

"Yes, on my way," he answered, carrying the child quickly to his makeshift bed.

_-Later-_

Fred and George emerged from their bedroom, looking tired, but happy.

"He'll be fine," they reassured the other two, "he'll need to rest for a while, but once the bloodreplenishing potions have done their work, he'll be up and about in no time. It was a close call, though," Fred sighed.

"Anyway, he was awake for a while to tell us what happened. Malfoy offered him and Severus the chance to join Voldemort. Then a fight ensued, when they refused. Harry managed to Stun two before Lucius got the better of him. Apparently Severus, on instinct, Petrified Lucius," George grinned widely, "and that is the last thing Harry remembers. Where is the boy, anyway?"

"Asleep in the library," Hermione answered.

"Erm, not anymore," Fred said, pointing at the small figure in the doorframe.

Severus watched the redheaded people anxiously. Where was Harry?

"Come here, kid," George said, "Harry will be fine, he's just sleeping right now."

"Is he going to be better?" Severus wanted to hear it outright. He walked into the room, stopping at George's knee and looking up imploringly at the boys that had been the bane of his existance in his adult life.

George hesitated. People always hesitated, Severus thought distractedly, like they weren't sure they liked him. Suddenly he was picked up and sitting on the man's lap.

"Yes, Ickle Sevvikins," George said teasingly, "Harry is going to be all better. He told us how brave you were and that you saved his life! He told us he is very proud of you and he threatened to use all of our own inventions on us if we didn't take proper care of you. So, we're going to get you something to eat – we haven't eaten either – and then tomorrow morning, when you've slept, you can go see Harry. You can peek around the door when you go to bed, but we gave him a dreamless sleep potion so he is pretty much out of it."

Severus nodded. "Dreamless Sleep lasts 4 to 24 hours, depending on the exhaustion of the drinker," he quoted from a potions book mother had made him read.

That made the two identical men giggle.

"Yes, you're absolutely right. Oh, and we didn't even introduce ourselves! That lady over there is Harry's best friend Hermione. Next to her is Ron, Harry's other best friend. That gentleman there is Fred, and I'm George, Fred's smarter half."

Severus stared intently at the twins for long seconds.

"Ok," he said then, smiling.

"Oi, brother of mine," Fred said to Ron, "how about you run to the Three Broomsticks and get us some dinner? And don't forget to stop by Florean's for icecream."

Sevvy's face brightened. Fred grinned.

"So, you like icecream, eh?"

Severus nodded enthusiastically. "Harry took me there and we ate icecream and he got me a broom so we could play Quidditch in the backyard, and then we went to the Zoo and set the snakes loose…"

He suddenly clasped his hands over his mouth and turned crimson.

The other four snorted, chuckled and then roared with laughter.

"Oh, Merlin, it WAS the two of you," George groaned, holding his aching sides, "we should have known."

"Circe!" Severus exclaimed happily as a snake slithered in, "this is Circe, we took her from the Zoo. She was in my pocket."

Ron paled. "You had her on you when I was carrying you?"

Severus nodded. "She was warm enough in your hair," he said innocently.

Ron sank back into the couch in a near-faint, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.

The twins were positively gleeful. Fred picked Severus up and put him on the table, where he conjured an 'Honorary Marauder' badge for him.

"Kid, you are the BEST," he said, sticking it to the child's shirt.

_-Hogwarts -_

"Hello, Lady," Albus Dumbledore said, smiling slightly, "I heard a lot of voices from the office. Everything ok?"

The Grey Lady sighed. "We had a little discussion. They had trapped Harry and Severus in the house and wanted to drag them out and back here forcefully. They escaped."

Dumbledore covered his face with his hands. "So they're missing again?"

The Grey Lady nodded. "But my guess would be they go straight to Harry's friends. Have Dobby pop over and check. He would never betray Harry to anyone."

Dobby was summoned and sent off. Fifteen minutes later he returned.

"Harry Potter was attacked by bad old master!" the elf said, distressed, "but Harry and little Master Snape is doing good now. They is with Harry's Wheezy's."

Dumbledore had paled at the mention of Lucius Malfoy, but quickly brightened when Dobby told him they were doing ok.

He thanked the elf and turned to the Grey Lady.

"I would like to write Harry and Severus…ask them for a chance to apologise in person…do you think it would be a good idea?"

She smiled. "Yes, I think so. Writing would be a good idea. Write seperate letters to both boys, even."

Dumbledore sighed deeply. "Will they ever forgive me?"

The Grey Lady patted his hand; he suppressed a shudder.

"They might, Albus. Be open and honest, and don't hold anything back. Do not try to manipulate them, just write about your own feelings for them. You love them and you are sorry, tell them that. It's all that matters."

_-93, Diagon Alley-_

The four teens had been surprised when Dobby popped up in the early evening, but quickly gave him the information the headmaster asked for.

"Does it matter that he knows where Harry and Severus are?" Ron asked Hermione.

"I don't think so," she said, "he can't hurt them now. And he does want to help them, so it seems he is recovering. But we have to relocate anyway, because this is the first place the others will look for them. And we don't know if those Death Eaters will…OH!"

Ron caugh on. "We forgot about those Death Eaters! I'm so stupid!"

"We agree, brother…"

"but what makes you say…"

"such insightful things?"

Ron blushed. "Oh shut up, you two. We forgot about the Death Eaters!"

"YOU forgot about them, little brother…"

"WE, however, left a timed signal…"

"that alerted the Aurors a few minutes after we left."

"Not that it will detain Lucius Malfoy for long…"

"But we are hoping he won't get back in Voldemorts good favour as easily as in the Minister's."

Severus came in, dressed in his pyjamas.

Hermione 'Aaaaah'ed' when she saw him.

The three males looked at her, scowling.

She raised her eyebrows in defense. "What? I think he's adorable."

"Can I go see Harry now? You promised!" Severus looked, without hesitation, at George.

"How did you know it was me?" George said in surprise.

Severus shrugged. "Because you are not Fred," was his simple explanation.

Fred rolled his eyes and took his hand.

Harry was awake. He looked up when he heard the door open, and smiled at Fred and Severus.

"Hey, guys," he said. He still was pale from the blood he'd lost, but the potions the twins had given him had taken care of his injuries just as much as Pomfrey's did.

Severus slowly walked towards the bed that held Harry.

"Are you better?" he asked.

"Lots better, especially now that I see you," Harry said, "I was worried. You saved my life, Sevvy…again," he grinned.

Severus looked at him, not understanding.

"You saved me on an almost yearly basis when you were an adult," Harry explained, smiling fondly at the child, "and now you saved me again."

"I saved you life?" Severus asked, confused.

"Yes, you did."

"But…but…" Severus hesitated. "But why didn't you like me if I saved your life?"

He would think that if he saved Harry's life, Harry and his friends would like him. And they did, but they did not like him when he was an adult, or they wouldn't have looked at him like that when they first saw him. Harry had even looked like he really hated him when he told him his name in that restaurant.

"Sevvy, come here," Harry held out his arms.

Severus ran forward and jumped into them, his head tucked underneath Harry's chin.

"We didn't get along at all, that is true," Harry admitted, "and I didn't really want to see how good you were. And you are, Sevvy. You are a very good person."

Severus sighed and cuddled closer. He was a good person. Not useless and disappointing, like his parents had told him. Harry rubbed circles on his back, laying down himself too.

Almost asleep, Severus missed the look Harry and Fred shared, one of amusement, regret, and fondness as they turned their eyes to the sleeping boy.

Just before he really fell asleep, Severus wondered if the bad snake man would turn the man who had tried to kill Harry in a child now too.


	16. Chapter 16

_-Voldemort's Lair-_

"You failed me." 

The three men were on their knees before the Dark Tyrant, muttering apologies.

"Silence! Two boys. TWO BOYS! I shall not blame you two too much for being overcome by Harry Potter."

The two Death Eaters looked somewhat relieved.

"Crucio."

Looking not so relieved, they screamed in agony for half a minute before the curse was lifted.

"Get back in the circle."

They hastily, and shakily, obeyed.

"But you, Lucius…" The Dark Lord looked with disgust upon his follower, "you…you were Petrified…PETRIFIED for Salazar's sake, by a SIX YEAR OLD!"

Lucius whimpered, knowing that tone of voice all too well.

"My Lord…I did…bring down Potter…doubt he could have lived…"

"Fool," the Dark Lord said, leaning over the man to whisper in his ear, "don't you think I would know if Harry Potter were dead? No, he is alive. And with Severus. That does not bode well for my plans with Severus. I sent him to Dumbledore to show him the Light side would destroy him when they had no more use for him. What did Potter say when you offered him to join me?"

Lucius nearly cried. He quickly tried to hide the yellow stain that was appearing in his robe with his cloak.

"My Lord…he said…he would send in the application form…when Hell freezes over."

"CRUCIO!"

_-93, Diagon Alley-_

"You know we can't stay here, don't you?" Fred said to Harry.

"I can't. You two have a shop to run. I'll just take Sevvy and find another place."

"Don't be ridiculous. We are coming with you. We'll just Apparate over to the shop."

"Yes, Harry, we are coming too," Ron and Hermione entered.

Hermione immediately (but fortunately silently) coo'ed over the little boy who was still sleeping next to Harry, curled against his side.

"Well, there is this solution…" George said, entering.

The other's looked up.

"The headmaster has written again. Fawkes just came by. He is offering us his summer home to stay. It's warding is immensely powerful, and Severus added to the wards in the past years. That means their strength will increase whenever he is in the house."

"But…" Ron started.

"He has also sent letters to Harry and Sevvy," George continued, ignoring his younger brother, "here they are. We will leave you to read them."

Seeing the boy was still asleep, Harry opened his own letter and started reading.

"_Dear Harry,_

_Let me begin, child, by apologising. I don't know who I am kidding; a simple apology will not undo what I have done to you. I am very sorry, and I understand that you won't forgive me._

_I do hope, my boy, that you will accept my help. I truly have no other intentions than to give you and Severus a truly happy summer. My summer house is well protected, large enough for you and your friends, and is at the seaside. I made sure it is already well stocked should you decide to take me up on my offer and are in need of…urgent relocating. _

_I also promise I will not go to the house unless you and Severus allow me. _

_I do not want to offer my illness as an excuse, Harry, but I do hope you will believe me when I say I see things much more clearly now. It does not make up for my poor decisions in the past, but it does mean I will do my best to regain your trust._

_With sincere apologies,_

_Albus Dumbledore."_

"Well, isn't that interesting," Harry said to himself.

"Harry? What's interesting?" Severus asked, sitting up.

"A letter from the headmaster, you have one too," the teen answered.

"Not a Howler?"

"Merlin, no. I think he wanted to apologise to you. He did to me."

"So I can read it?"

Harry smiled. "Yes, it's safe to read it. He won't hurt you anymore."

Severus opened his letter and started to read out loud.

"My darling boy…is that me?" he asked with wonder in his voice. Harry nodded.

"I was so glad when I heard you are with Harry. I have been worried about you. I am so very sorry, Severus, for being so cruel and mean to you. I did not want to be mean to you, but I was. I understand if you are very, very mad at me now, and never want to see me again."

Severus frowned. "Does that mean he is mad at me?"

"No, it means that he knows he did something that is very bad. He wants to see you very much so can make up for being mean, but he thinks you are so mad you never want to see him again."

"Oh. Ok. He writes some more." Severus did his best to read the next bit out loud too.

"My dear child, I have said very nasty things to you. You must remember that what I said to you was not true. You are a very beautiful, very special boy and I am sorry I didn't see that. I hope you will talk with Harry, and maybe, if you want, let me know how you are doing."

Severus looked at Harry.

"He's not mean anymore, is he?"

Harry stared at his own letter. "No, I don't think he is mean anymore, Sevvy. I think he is almost better."

"Are we going to see him? Or write to him?"

Harry looked up in surprise. "Do you want to?"

The boy looked at him. "Sometimes I just know things," he confessed, his gaze slowly going to the bedding, "like I've known them for a very long time. I think it's from when I was big. Like how I can see that Fred is not George."

Harry 'aaah'ed in understanding. So that's how he could tell the twins apart. Snape had always been able to do that.

The boy plucked at the blankets. "I have that feeling about the headmaster too now. I mean, I'm scared of him…because he was so mean…but I think when I was big, he was not mean. I think I loved him when I was big. Like he was my Daddy. It's hard to explain…"

Harry patted his hand. "I think I understand, Sevvy. He has told us we can go stay at his summer house. It's even safer than the Bungalow. Fred and George, and Ron and Hermione are coming with us. We are going there today. How about we both write him a letter when we get there?"

Severus smiled brilliantly.

"But can we play Quidditch at his place?" he demanded to know, "because he is very old. Would he have a place to play Quidditch? Or does he just have lots of tables to play Ferry?"

-The Burrow-

Arthur Weasley roamed the house. It felt so empty. His three youngest sons were gone. Hermione as well. To Harry, no doubt.

The Grey Lady had given him a lot to think about. He picked up Severus's diary again but couldn't bring himself to read it. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Arthur…" his wife was in tears. He put his arms around her.

"We were all wrong," he said softly into her hair, "but it's not too late to repair the damages, love. They're probably at the WWW. Why don't we go to the Alley and see if they want to talk to us? We're going to ask nicely this time."

Molly smiled hopefully, before rushing to the Floo.

They nearly ran through the long cobbled street, and knocked on the door.

"Fred? George? Ron?" Molly called. The door opened.

"Children?"

Nothing. No response.

Molly walked into the various rooms, noticing open wardrobes, suggesting a hasty departure. When she entered Fred and George's room, she screamed.

There were bloody sheets on the bed, and a collection of empty potions vials on the dresser.

Arthur ran into the room, alarmed. He took one look at the mess and paled. Walking back into the livingroom, trying to find any clue as to what had happened, but found none. Except for one. A tiny snake slithered from beneath the couch. Arthur picked it up.

"What is it?"

"A snake. I would guess it belongs to either Harry or Severus. The Zoo did report four missing snakes, one of them matching this little one's description."

Molly smiled slightly through her tears. "So it was them, at the Zoo."

"I'd say yes," Arthur nodded, "she must have escaped from a pocket and in the rush of leaving they probably didn't notice she had gone."

Molly stroked the tiny head. "Let's take her and look after her, she'd die on her own in here."

Miles away, Harry smirked.

"Did it work?" Ron asked.

"Yes, they took her. Fred, you can go off standby. They've taken her in."

_Ss "Well done, my little spy,"Ss _Harry hissed to the snake over the bond they had managed to create using his link to Voldemort.

Severus looked anxious.

"Will they take good care of her?"

"She is going to be a very spoiled little snake when you get her back," Harry smiled, "They will be very good to her."

Severus swallowed, but then beamed with pride. "My Circe is a real spy," he said in awe, "that is so cool."

The others looked at the boy with a mixture of amusement and knowing sadness.


	17. Chapter 17

Harry relaxed in the hammock on in the garden. He was feeling well, his wounds were closed up properly, but he still tired easily. Fred and George assured him that another day of rest would set him straight, and he had decided to take their advice.

Of course, they had not counted on him monopolizing the hammock for the day and refusing to do any work whatsoever.

Harry grinned and closed his eyes in the sun. The twins were showing Severus the finer points of being a Beater, though both Hermione and Harry had insisted they used bludgers with cushioning charms when playing with Sevvy.

Checking in with Circe to make sure everything was ok and they were not being tracked down, he thought back to their arrival.

They had found themselves in the livingroom of a large house. A house that clearly belonged to Albus Dumbledore; the coloring of the room was similar to his office. Harry looked at Sevvy to see if that would trouble the child, but Severus's adult memories seemed to be influencing his reaction; he looked relaxed and at ease.

Harry had explained to the others that Severus was apparently confused by their initial reactions to him. He was aware that he had not been well liked as an adult, but didn't understand why. It made him a bit insecure at times, and his friends had immediately vowed to make the boy feel very welcome and wanted. All of them had an inkling of what life had been like for Severus the first time he was this age, and they were determined to give him a happier life this time.

And the adult memories usually were dormant; as they had found out when they had done their first tour of the house.

"A Quidditch pitch!" Severus had yelled, looking out the window, "No Ferry tables!"

Fred and George had looked at each other. "Ferry tables?" they mouthed.

Suddenly Hermione had giggled. "Bridge. He means Bridge," she snorted.

Harry had snickered as well, but the three Weasleys were still clueless.

"Bridge. Remember when he said Dumbledore would probably be too old to fly, and was more likely to have Ferry tables? He meant Bridge. It's a Muggle card game, associated sometimes with people who are somewhat…advanced in age."

Harry laughed out loud at the memory.

Severus walked towards him. "What are you laughing about, Harry?"

"Oh, nothing really. I thought you were playing Quidditch?"

Severus pointed over his shoulder at the twins.

"They put on the wrong charm. It's not hard anymore, but it keeps biting them."

Harry shook his head, and scooted over to make room for Severus in the hammock.

"Harry?"

"Hmmm?"

"Are we going to write to the headmaster?"

"You really want to, don't you?"

Severus looked a bit dejected. "I'm scared, but he was ill, right? So it wasn't really his fault. Are you still mad at him?"

Harry hesitated. Yes, he was still mad at the headmaster. But if he said that, Severus wouldn't feel free to listen to Dumbledore's apologies either. And the boy needed a father figure. Harry knew perfectly well that he couldn't be that. A big brother, ok. A father to a six year old, that was out. From the others he had learned that Dumbledore did love Severus.

He smiled at the boy, who was looking at him imploringly, his eyes large in anticipation.

"Why don't you write him a letter, Sevvy, and I'll get Hedwig to deliver it."

_-Hogwarts-_

Dumbledore was painting – an old hobby he had recently taking up again - when Harry's snowy owl appeared.

"Hello Hedwig," he said, nervously relieving her of her load.

He recognized the handwriting as Harry's.

"_Headmaster," _it began,

_We received your letters. While I am still wary, Severus seems willing to forgive you. The reason for that is mostly that his adult memories are…well, not accessible to him on a consciouss level, but they do influence him. Severus described the feelings he has towards you as a result of this as 'when I was big, he wasn't mean, because I feel like I loved him. Like a Daddy.' He has written you a letter._

_I've talked to Hermione about it, and I agree to meeting between Sevvy, myself, and you. But let me warn you: you hurt him, you so much as make him LOOK sad, and you will regret the day you taught me how to use a wand. _

_We expect you tomorrow morning. My friends have agreed to allow us privacy, but they have ways to monitor us."_

"Well," Dumbledore said to himself, a wry smile on his face, "the message is loud and clear, Harry, my boy. I am to watch myself or suffer consequences, especially if I hurt Severus. Sevvy."

He opened the child's letter.

"Hello headmaster, 

_Harry says I should write what I am really thinking._

_I am a bit scared of you.You hurt me._

_But I also think you must be nice when you are not ill._

_Will you be mean to me agin? Are you angry that I ran away?_

_Why did you write my darling boy does that mean you liked me when I was big?_

_Greetings,_

_Severus."_

Dumbledore stood in front of his floo the next morning, his stomach feeling like it had been stuffed full of rocks, his palms sweaty and his mouth dry. In short, he hadn't felt this nervous since he was a small boy going to Hogwarts for the first time.

Finally he sighed deeply, threw in the powder and exited in the fireplace in his living room.

He looked around; there were clear signs that there were currently six children living here. A pile of books on the table; undoubtedly Hermione's.

Toys – Severus's. Several Quidditch magazines, the Weasley boys must have discovered the pitch right away.

He looked around the house, but it appeared empty. The kitchen was empty as well and there were no sounds from upstairs.

Looking out a window, he finally saw two dark haired boys sitting in the hammock. He smiled slightly. From here, they could very easily be brothers, and the way Harry wrote about Severus, he thought the boys did feel like brothers. He only hoped it would last when Severus was returned to his proper age.

Slowly, tentatively, he approached them, stopping about 15 feet away from them.

Harry, who had been keeping watch, had seen him coming. The boy had his wand at the ready, Dumbledore saw, and he lowered his head. He undoubtedly deserved that lack of trust.

Severus hid behind Harry when he noticed the headmaster. An awkward silence later, Harry stood up, stiffly welcomed the headmaster and thanked him formally for letting them use the house.

"It is nothing, Harry. You needed a safe place to stay."

Harry nodded shortly.

Severus peeked around Harry's legs. Dumbledore sank to his knees.

"Severus," he said softly, "child, I was so happy with your letter. I am so happy I could come so I can tell you how sorry I am for being mean to you."

Slowly emerging from behind Harry, Severus stared intently at the man, trying to see if he was being honest.

"So you're not mad at me?"

"Oh, child, no, not at all. I have no right to be mad at you."

"But you said…you said…those people that died…that it was my fault…" the child wiped at a tear.

Dumbledore suddenly found himself crying as well. "No, Severus, that was very wrong of me to say. Of course it wasn't your fault."

The boy looked up, hopeful. "Really?"

Dumbledore held out his hand, and Severus slowly walked towards him. Harry looked wary, but didn't try to interfere.

When the child was close enough, Dumbledore took his hand.

"My dear boy," he said, his voice warm. It was not the patronizing tone Harry had learned to hate. It was real, honest warmth. Surprised, Harry lowered his wand.

"My darling child, you didn't do anything wrong. It was all my fault. I was mean and nasty. You are wonderful. Did you know that when you were big, you did your own job, and your job for the Order, and you helped me whenever you could? You did so much for me, I could never have kept going without you. You made me smile whenever I felt depressed. Sometimes you threw a tantrum over something ridiculous just so you could get me to laugh. You saved a lot of people's lives, child. What happened to those other people was never your fault, and I should never have said that it was."

Severus listened to the old man, his eyes wide with suprise, looking at the headmaster as if he was searching for something. Struggling to remember something.

In the end he gave up. He simply smiled at Dumbledore.

"I like helping," he said, "I help Harry too sometimes."

Harry cleared his throat. Not that there was a lump in it. The way Dumbledore talked to Sevvy was nice, but nothing to get emotional about, thank you very much. It was just a…just a cough.

"He saved my life," Harry said fondly, "He's my hero. And of course, he helps Hermione studying. And Ron and the Twins to improve their Quidditch skills."

Severus beamed happily at Harry. Dumbledore smiled.

"I'm glad you are not afraid of me anymore, Severus," he touched the soft cheek, "I missed you."

The boy held on to the headmasters hand.

"Are you still sick? Should you be laying in the hammock, like Harry?"

"No, thank you, child. I'm much better and don't need to sleep during the day anymore."

Harry suddenly realised he was hardly being a good host.

"Shall we go inside for some tea?" he suggested, walking towards the house.

"Wait, Harry, can I make it?" Severus ran inside.

Dumbledore and Harry crossed the lawn together, both smiling after the energetic child.

"And you, Harry?" Dumbledore asked softly, "Is there anything…anything at all…that I can do to make you think less ill of me? I won't ask for your forgiveness; I don't deserve that."

Harry smirked. "Such is the nature of forgiveness, headmaster, that it can never be deserved," mimicking the headmaster's style of speech as best he could.

Dumbledore bowed his head and sighed. "I understand," he muttered.

"No, I don't think you do," Harry said.

"I still don't trust you. I am not even certain that I don't want you to pay for what you did to Sevvy and me. But I'm willing to start over. You seem to have changed; you won't start with a clean slate, but Moody once said that you believe in second chances. You gave Sevvy one, so I guess you deserve the same."

Dumbledore watched the youth with wonder. "Thank you, Harry," he said, his heart lighter then it had been in many years.

**A/N Well there you have it. An entire chapter devoted to reconciling with Dumbledore. More about those other idiot adults later on.**


	18. Chapter 18

_-Summer house-_

"Hey Harry, where's Sevvy? I want to show him some new Quidditch tricks later for our match with the twins."

Harry looked up from his book on Advanced Defense and smiled. Ron had taken the presence of the little potions master much better then he could have hoped for. At least Severus had turned into a Quidditch maniac under Ron's tutelage.

"He's in the garden with Dumbledore. They're painting."

Ron scowled. "The garden is for Quidditch, not painting!"

Harry waited until his horrified friend was out of the room before collapsing in a heap of laughter.

It was two weeks since their reunion with Dumbledore, and the teens had thought it safe to allow the Headmaster to come in and out whenever he wanted. Severus, after his initial fears from the memories of the headmaster's treatment of him had faded, was drawn towards the man. And Dumbledore to the boy, Harry thought, smiling fondly.

Dumbledore had asked Harry two days after their reconciliation if it was alright if he came over to paint in his gardens, so Severus could get used to him without being forced into actual interaction. Harry agreed.

The boy had taken a few hours, but then his curiosity got the better of him, and he had walked over to Dumbledore to see what he was doing.

The teens had been surprised to see that Severus LOVED painting. Dumbledore had given him paper, watercolors and some old brushes, and together they painted for the entire afternoon. When Harry strolled over some time later to call them in for dinner, Severus had proudly shown him the results of his labors. He was very good, Harry discovered.

Since that day, Dumbledore came over nearly every day to play or paint with Severus, and to get Harry and the others some advanced books. He was proving to be a patient teacher.

"Harry!" Severus came running in, paint still on his fingers and cheeks, "Harry, did you know Muggles had museums full of paintings? Did you, Harry? Can we go to one sometime, Harry? Please, please, please?"

The boy was dancing around excitedly and Harry couldn't help laughing. Dumbledore walked in, looking guilty.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't know that when I mentioned museums, he would sprint inside to ask you to go to one," the headmaster apologised.

The twins, who had just entered, scowled at the mention of a museum.

Harry snorted. "Ron and the twins won't be interested in going, but I bet Hermione is. Maybe the four of us can go tomorrow?" he looked at the headmaster.

"Excellent idea," Hermione said, when they had called her in and proposed the plan, "But I doubt a museum will occupy Sevvy for long. I mean, he is only six. But, we need to get out of the house a bit and we definitely could use some fun. How about we go to a museum in the morning, and a Muggle amusement park in the afternoon?"

Severus's eyes widened. "Oh, can we, Harry? Please, sir?" he looked at Harry and Dumbledore imploringly.

Harry nodded. "I'm all for it," he said.

"Me too," Dumbledore said, "but only if you stop calling me sir, Sevvy."

Severus sucked in his lower lip. "But I have to call you sir. If I don't, I will slip up and call you Daddy like I used to."

He clasped his hands over his mouth in horror.

Harry looked at Dumbledore.

"He called me 'father' when he was an adult," the headmaster smiled, patting the boy on the head to show him he wasn't at all offended, "I guess it lingers. How about you all call me Albus?"

Harry pulled Severus on his lap.

"Sevvy, you can call Albus Daddy if you like. Are you afraid I will be mad at you if you do?"

Severus nodded shyly. "You are mad at…at Daddy," he said.

Harry sighed. "Sevvy, Albus and I have to talk about a lot of things that we disagree on, but I won't be mad at you for starting to love him again and wanting to call him Daddy again. He is better, so I know he will be very nice to you. Now…tomorrow we're going on an outing," he smiled, "so you have to go to bed early, or you'll be tired. Maybe if you ask nicely, Albus will tuck you in after dinner."

The boy smiled brightly at the headmaster, who nodded, and sent Harry a grateful look.

_-The Burrow-_

Molly Weasley let the small snake slither up her arm while she fed it.

"There you go," she patted it softly, "I wish we knew what name they gave you," she said as she let it slide from her arm to the box they had made for her.

"Her name is Circe," she suddenly heard the voice of her youngest son.

She whipped around. "RON!" she yelled.

"Here, mum, in the fireplace," the voice said.

Molly knelt in front of the fire.

"Ron! How are you? Where are you? Are your brothers ok? And Harry and Severus? We found blood…"

"MUM! Slow down!" Ron said forcefully.

Arthur Weasley, alerted by his wife's scream, came bolting in.

"Ronald!" he exclaimed, his face brightening.

"Hi Dad."

"Where are you? Are you coming home? Oh, Ronnie…" Molly said, wringing her apron.

"We're not coming back yet," her son said, "but we got your letter. We want to talk to you too. Can you meet us tomorrow? At the Twins's shop?"

"Of course," his father said, his face bright, "Of course we'll be there. Are..are all of you coming?"

Ron shook his head, sending sparks all over.

"Fred, George and me," he replied.

"We'll be there at 10," his father promised, "but Ron…the blood…"

"Harry was injured by Death Eaters on his way over here," Ron said, a flash of anger in his eyes, "but the twins took care of him and he has recovered quickly. In fact, he's training at the moment."

"Oh, the poor boy," Molly said, "but he would never have been injured if he hadn't run off," she said disapprovingly, "and with that child, too!"

Ron's voice grew cold. "He would never have been injured if you hadn't forced him to flee in the first place, and it was sheer dumb bad luck, because they took as many precautions as they could, considering the…circumstances…in which they left."

He didn't mention outright that the two hadn't had much time to prepare with the Order working their way through the wards that protected them, but his parents got the message.

Both blushed fiercely.

"We'll see you tomorrow then, Mum, Dad," Ron said, "Fred and George say hi."

_-A more or less decent Art museum-_

The four people walking through the rather empty museum didn't, by some miracle, attract much attention. Harry and Hermione were dressed as Muggles, of course, as they had done most of their lives.

Severus was dressed in some of the Muggle clothes Harry had bought him. Dumbledore…well. Hermione had groaned and was nearly in tears when the old wizard had appeared that morning.

It had taken some rather vicious wandwork from Harry as well as from Dumbledore himself to transfigure his…clothes…into something unobtrusive.

Right now, he was carrying an awed Severus – who was a bit too short to properly see the exhibits, most of which were on a comfortable hight for adults, not six year olds – and they quietly discussed the painting techniques and compositions that Dumbledore had been teaching the boy.

Harry and Hermione followed quietly along, taking in the impressive collection.

"You know, Sevvy really loves Dumbledore," Hermione said.

"I know."

"Are you ever going to talk things through with him?"

Harry sighed. "I should, shouldn't I? But I'm still so angry. It's not something that I can forgive and forget just like that."

"Severus did. Even as an adult."

"Severus as an adult had years to do that, and he owed Dumbledore for his second chance."

"I know, Harry. Why don't you just tell him? Yell and rage at him if you want. I'm sure he won't mind."

"I don't want to yell and rage at him where Sevvy might hear."

"Then go somewhere he won't. We will ultimately have to return to Hogwarts, Harry."

Harry nodded. "I know. I just…they hurt me so much, 'Mione…" the strong, brave Chosen One of the Wizarding world suddenly sounded frail and timid.

Hermione put her arm around his shoulders. Harry looked at her gratefully before they joined the other two.

_-Hogwarts-_

Filius Flitwick entered the headmaster's office, where Minerva McGonagall was busy sending off the letters to the students.

"How are things going, Minerva?"

"Fine, Filius, although we still need another DADA professor, and perhaps a sub for Potions. I really need to talk to Albus about that later this week."

"We may not need a substitute for Potions," the tiny professor squeeked, "I've found a possible countercurse. That's what I came up here for; I need your opinion."

He handed her a book and several sheets of notes. Then he waited patiently while the witch read.

"Oh yes, this looks good, Filius! You and I can do the spellwork…Poppy can monitor…yes, this will probably work."

"Let's prepare, then, and as soon as the boys come out of hiding, we can perform the countercurse and change Severus back to his adult self."

_-Amusement park-_

Albus Dumbledore watched in delight as his three young companions rushed around, eager to see and try every ride in the park.

Severus ran to the line for a rollercoaster and stood in front of the measuring stick.

"Am I big enough to go, yet? Harry, am I big enough?"

The people around smiled at the eager little boy. Harry checked.

"Yes, you are big enough. By about half an inch."

"Can I go? Are you coming with me?"

He looked at Hermione, who shook her head. "Not me, Sevvy."

Then he sent Dumbledore a look that could melt the coldest heart, but the headmaster just chuckled.

"Too old, Sevvy. My heart may not be up to this."

Harry shook his head. "Don't you people know fun when you see it? Come on, Sevvy, we're going!"

Dumbledore and Hermione found a bench near the exit, where they could also see the carts.

The line was rather long, and they figured it might be half an hour or so before the two would be back.

Hermione strolled to an icecream van and bought Dumbledore a lemon icecream and chocolate for herself.

"Thank you, my dear," Dumbledore said, enjoying his icecream.

"Do you think they will survive?" he asked, slightly nervous as a cart came overhead.

"Oh, they will undoubtedly survive. These rides are much safer then they look. In what STATE they're going to be is a different matter…"

A little while later they could hear the excited screams of a six year old above their head, and they both looked up in time to catch the look of pure unadulterated happiness on Severus's face as he cheered. Harry looked just as thrilled.

"They have a photo booth," Hermione said, "they take pictures during the ride of all passengers. Let's go have a look."

Soon the pictures of Harry and Sevvy appeared on the screen. The camera had caught the excited expressions just at the right moment.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

"I'd like that one, please," he said to the girl behind the counter. She printed the picture for him and he payed gladly, handing her nearly twice the amount she asked for.

"I'm going to enchant it and put it up in my office," Dumbledore decided.

Hermione laughed. "Your visitors would be shocked if they entered to the screams of those two," she pointed out.

"Ah, a well-placed silencing charm every now and then…" the headmaster muttered, carefully storing the picture in Hermione's bag.

Soon Severus came dancing towards them.

"I got to ride, Daddy, did you see? Did you see?" he nearly jumped into Dumbledore's arms.

"We went up and down really fast, and around corners! Harry is so cool, he let me sit in front!"

Harry blushed and grinned at the other two. Dumbledore gave the excited boy a cuddle before putting him on the ground, where he immediately grabbed Hermione's hand to drag her off to the next thing he wanted to see.

The other two followed at a more normal pace.

"Harry…"

"Headmaster…"

They both started at the same time, then looked at each other a bit embarrassed. Finally Harry broke the silence.

"We do need to talk, don't we? But I want it to be out of Sevvy's hearing range."

Dumbledore winced slightly, as he considered the reasons why Harry would want that.

"We can simply Silence a room, Harry."

Blushing a bit for not having thought of it, Harry nodded.

"Tonight, then," he said, "after we put Sevvy to bed. Together."

"HARRY! DADDY! You have to come see!" they heard Sevvy's excited voice, and they broke into a run to catch up with them.

**A/N Next on Six Years: Harry and Dumbledore talk, as do the Weasleys. Two conversations with Jerry Springer-potential, no doubt**.


	19. Chapter 19

_-Summer house- _

After feeding a very content but incredibly tired child dinner, Dumbledore and Harry went upstairs to put him to bed.

They quickly washed him, changed him into his pyjamas and tucked him in. He looked up at them sleepily.

"Thank you for today," he said sincerely, "it was great."

They sat on either side of his bed, and smiled.

Dumbledore leaned forward to kiss his forehead, and Harry retrieved the stuffed toy they had bought him and that he insisted on sleeping with.

"Night, kiddo," Harry whispered, feeling only a slight pang in his heart at using the endearment Sirius had used for him.

The boy was nearly asleep already. "Are you coming tomorrow?" he murmured to Dumbledore, who hesitated and looked at Harry.

Harry patted the child's hand. "He will have to, you have draw our day out, don't you?"

Severus nodded happily, put his thumb in his mouth and his arm around his toy, and was asleep before they had left the room.

"Let's go to the upstairs library," Harry suggested, "Hermione is in the one downstairs, of course."

The young witch had been so excited when she discovered the house had not one, but two libraries that she had hardly eaten for a day, scanning all the books available.

Once in the library, and doing a quick search to make sure none of the other boys had decided to spend the evening studying, Dumbledore put silencing charms on the room and an outside lock.

"You can walk out, but no one can walk in," he explained to Harry, who understood the courtesy and nodded.

Dumbledore sat down, suddenly looking old, very nerveus and more than a little guilty.

Harry sighed. He had wanted to continue his rage at this man for so long, and now that he could, the words just wouldn't come.

He started to think about what he wanted to throw at the man.

The Dursleys.

Sending him back there.

Keeping him away from his friends when he needed them the most.

Not telling him anything, which in effect had caused Sirius's death.

But most of all, allowing Sevvy to be hurt as a child. Allowing his own father to abuse a fellow student like that. Ignoring the trauma of the Shrieking Shack.

To his horror, he felt his eyes mist over and a choked sob escaped his lips.

Through the mist, he could just barely see Dumbledore stand up, and before he knew what was happening, he was pulled into a tight embrace.

"I hated you," he whispered, his cheek against the soft cloth of the headmaster's robes, "you left me there, and you never checked up on me. And you sent me back, every single year."

He pulled back a bit.

"You let them! You let them treat me like that! Allowed them to tell me I am nothing…nothing…"

Dumbledore ran his hand through the black hair. "You aren't 'nothing', Harry."

Harry snorted, and pushed away.

"Then what am I? For years I was told I'm worthless, and then I come here, in the Wizarding world, to find out I'm some kind of hero. And that I'm expected to do it again. I WAS ELEVEN!" he yelled, "I WASN'T SOME HERO! I WAS JUST A BOY!"

Taking a deep shuddering breath, he stared at the headmaster. "You knew all along. The Prophesy. You allowed the whole stupid wizarding world to lay their expectations on MY shoulders. YOU defeated Grindelwald! When you were over a 100 already! How am I supposed to do the same when I'm not even of age?"

Harry clung to the headmaster suddenly, tears running down his face.

"I don't want to have to fight him, I don't want to see my friends die in battle, I'm not a brave Gryffindor, I'm scared…"

Dumbledore murmured soothingly into his hair, but Harry wasn't done raging yet.

"And Severus! He was a total bastard to me! You never did ANYTHING to keep him from that. He is Neville's greatest fear, for Merlin's sake! You hurt Severus even more than me. I know what my father and Sirius were like, and I know quite a bit about what Sevvy's home life was like. And you never helped him! Not until it was too late and he joined Voldemort!"

Dumbledore bit his lip. "Severus loves me," he said slowly, "he forgave me a long time ago."

"Did he? Then why did he remind you of how Sirius tried to kill him in my third year? He didn't sound like he had forgotten and forgiven then. But you shut him up again. You gave him a second chance, a chance to redeem himself from the stupidity of joining Voldemort. He feels he owes you."

Harry suddenly stopped. "But I guess a lot of that is between him and you. He does love you, I can see that. I just…just don't want him to get hurt again. I don't want to get hurt again."

"Oh, Harry," the old wizard whispered, "I'm so very sorry."

Wiping angrily at his face, ashamed of his tears, the raven boy turned around, his back to the headmaster.

"Now that you are better…when you were ill…was that why you sent me back? Would you send me back to the Dursleys now if you could?"

"NO!" Dumbledore said, "No, never. I want to help you, Harry. Truly. I will regret the mistakes I made to the end of my days. Please. Just give me a chance to make up for what I did."

Harry turned to face him again, his eyes full of sadness. "How do you make up for a childhood of neglect and pain, headmaster? Can you give me back Sirius?"

He saw the headmaster swallow hard.

"No, I can't," the old man admitted, "I can't do any of that. But I can help you get emancipated. That way no one is allowed to do that to you anymore. I want to try and help you, so that you are ready when Voldemort comes. I should have helped you train years and years ago, Harry. If…if anything…if you get…if something happens to you…I'll never forgive myself."

Harry watched in shock as the headmaster sank down on the couch, his face in his hands, and tears ran betweeen the fingers into the long beard.

Then he sat down next to him.

"I had a harder time than Severus, accepting you were ill," he confessed, "because I wanted to be angry. At everything and everyone. The adults around me have always seen fit to decide what I could or couldn't do without ever listening to me. A lot of times those decisions hurt me. I have a hard time letting go. But if this is the real you, the real Dumbledore without the pretending and neglect, then I think you are someone I'd like to get to know better."

_-Later-_

When Dumbledore and Harry came downstairs, they found the Weasley brothers had returned, all looking a bit the worse for wear.

"How did it go?" Harry asked.

Ron handed him something. Circe.

"They brought her, to give her back. I'm afraid we've lost our spy now, but I think we don't really have anything to fear from them at the moment."

Harry happily hissed a 'welcome back' at the snake.

"Ah…so this is your little informant," Dumbledore smiled.

"Yes. I've devised a way to communicate with her over long distances, and Sevvy agreed for her to spy. She's his, you see."

Dumbledore carefully took the small snake from Harry.

"You'll love it here," he said.

The twins and Ron had gotten drinks, and Hermione was even persuaded to leave the library. She shot a glance at Harry and Dumbledore, both of whom had red rimmed eyes still. Harry gave her a small nod that reassured her that all was well.

"Well, we arrived at the shop…"

_The shop was empty, since it was closed for the day. Fred and George had hired help for the summer so they could spend more time at the summer house, but it was the girl's day off._

"_Do you think Mum will yell?" Ron asked._

"_Does Mum ever NOT yell?" his brothers responded, handing him a chocolate bean._

"_What's this?"_

"_Our latest invention. Emergency Apparating. Swallow the bean, and it Apparates you to the place you wish to be. Works only once, but very useful as a means of escape. The Order already ordered boxes full of them.If Mum and Dad prove to be trouble, we need a quick way out."_

"_Too bad we couldn't have send a few to Harry before."_

"_We didn't invent them until afterwards, for precisely that reason," George said, staring out into the street._

"_There they are!"_

_Molly and Arthur entered the shop, eyes widening when they saw their sons._

"_FRED! GEORGE! RON!" Molly yelled, "What did you think you were doing, running off like that?"_

_The boys looked at each other, wondering if they should take those beans now._

_Then their father stepped forward, his solemn eyes locking into theirs._

_Suddenly he grabbed all three of them in a bear hug._

"_We've missed you," he said softly, "we were so worried."_

"_It's my fault," Molly said sadly, hugging her sons when her husband released them to her._

"_Yes it is," Ron said, still angry, "we only agreed to help you find Harry because we were worried he might be in trouble. But then, even after Dudley's speech and your promise, you couldn't wait to break it as soon as you found out where he was."_

_Molly tried to respond, but Ron was on a rant._

"_And then you AMBUSH him in his own house and lay SIEGE. Of course they ran; you would either have stormed the house or you would've waited until they were forced out by lack of food."_

"_Your father didn't do that," Molly responded, "the others were there for Severus."_

"_But they didn't object, did they?" Fred interrupted._

"_After hearing what the two of them went through, you STILL thought it a good idea to do that to them. You just don't listen, do you? Do you even care for those two, or do you only care about getting your own way? How can you know what's best for Harry if you never even asked him?"_

"_We do care for him! We took him in…"_

"_AFTER we rescued him from starving in a room with bars on his window," George yelled, "which we had to do since all of YOU refused to simply check on him. Apparating there and back to assess the situation would have taken ten minutes at most, but none of you could be bothered!"_

_Arthur sighed._

"_Boys…we know we were wrong. We do. Please, allow us to show you we are serious."_

_Molly carefully took out a small snake and gave it to Ron._

"_We found it here," she said, "we guessed it belonged to Harry, so we took good care of it."_

_Ron groaned. He couldn't refuse to take the snake, but if he took it, they'd have lost their spy. Fred nodded at him. They might as well take it back. It would make Sevvy happy, at the least._

"_She's Sevvy's," Ron said, as the snake curled around his wrist, "he'll be pleased."_

_Arthur cleared his throat. "Yes. About Severus…"_

"…and then he told us professors McGonagall and Flitwick have developed a countercurse! They want us to go to Hogwarts as soon as we can to perform it."

"And what did you say?" Harry asked, subdued.

"That we would discuss it with you, and with Sevvy, of course."

Harry sighed. "I guess. We will have to go to Hogwarts in the morning. But just to hear what they have found! I will not allow Sevvy to go through something that could be dangerous to him. Not to mention that Sevvy will have a say in this as well."

All thoughts turned to the little boy, fast asleep in his bed.


	20. Chapter 20

The next morning, Dumbledore and Harry sat down on the edge of Severus's bed to wake the boy.

Severus rubbed his eyes with his fists, yawning.

"H'rry? Da? Wanna sleep…"

Harry smirked a bit, before his face fell a the thought of what he had to ask the boy to do.

"Sevvy…Albus and I need to talk to you."

Severus looked up, more awake now.

"See, Sevvy," Dumbledore continued, "I have to ask you and Harry to come to Hogwarts with me today."

He wasn't prepared, like Harry, for the spike of terror in the boy's eyes.

"NO!" Severus jumped into Harry's arms, away from Dumbledore, whose eyes dimmed as he realized that he still had not completely won the boy's trust.

Harry rocked slightly.

"Sevvy, remember the stern-but-kind witch you told me about? And the nice witch that was there when you first woke up in the hospital wing? The small wizard with the beard?"

Severus nodded.

"Well, they've asked us to come, because they want to tell us something. Actually, they want to tell YOU something, but I won't let you go to Hogwarts alone. I'm coming with you."

"I'm scared, Harry."

Sighing, Harry cuddled the boy. It was nice to be able to give the boy what he himself had never received as a child. His thoughts darkened when he thought about the adult Snape. Would this time as a child have had any impact on him?

"They're not going to do anything to you, Sevvy. Not without your permission. I'll make sure of it. How about we just go there and listen to them?"

Severus clung tightly to him, ignoring the headmaster completely.

"Don't leave me, Harry, please stay with me, the whole time?"

"I'll stay with you the whole time. I'll never let you out of my sight, I promise."

_-Hogwarts- _

"They're coming?"

Minerva's lips curled into a content smile.

"Yes, Albus floo'ed. They are coming this morning."

Remus sighed happily. "Good. At least we'll be able to turn Severus back into his normal self, and without the child to protect, we can talk some sense into Harry."

Arthur Weasley softly groaned and rolled his eyes.

Severus was holding Harry's hand tightly as they walked up to the front entrance. They had elected to arrive that way, rather then floo to the Headmasters office. Harry smirked. They would do things on their terms, and their entrance would convey that sentiment.

"Mr Potter, Severus," came the squeeky voice of the Charms professor, "so good to see you. If you would go to the infirmary, the others are all there."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Infirmary? As far as I know, neither of us is ill."

The small professor smiled. "Poppy insists on looking you over. Molly and Arthur told us about the attack, and she has been fussing ever since."

Harry shrugged. "The twins did a good job."

But he walked to the infirmary anyway.

"Mr Potter!" the nurse was upon him immediately, scanning away.

Finally she gave a satisfied nod, while Severus hid behind Harry's legs. There were way too many people in the room for his comfort.

"You are fine, Mr Potter. I must compliment those twins next time I see them. Now, Severus, if you would sit down on that bed…"

The child clung to Harry's robes. "I don't want to!"

Harry began to feel annoyed.

"I thought we were here to discuss?"

Remus Lupin snorted. "Just put the kid on the bed, Harry, then we can perform the countercurse and you can come back with us."

Harry's voice grew cold. "No, thank you, Remus," he said, "I don't think so. And you will only perform the countercurse if Severus agrees to it."

"He's SIX," Remus argued, "He doesn't get a say in it. And you are not an adult either. We've agreed that I am your guardian now. Put the kid on the bed."

Harry picked up Severus and balanced him on his left hip, while taking out his wand with his right arm.

"He DOES get a say in it," he stated, "and you are NOT my guardian. Even if I needed one, do you really think I would accept you just because you all DECIDED on it? Without even bothering to ask me?"

Remus turned red. "We know you had too many people telling you what to do, so we agreed to bring it down to one."

Harry snorted. "You are not my guardian. You can't possibly have filed the paperwork."

Remus's look betrayed him. "How did you know?"

"Because I don't need a guardian. I'm emancipated. I saw to that immediately after returning to the Dursleys."

"Fine. FINE!" Remus yelled, "but you are still not SNAPE'S guardian! Put the kid DOWN, Harry, and let us perform the countercurse."

Harry turned to the boy. "Severus, do you want to be an adult again?"

The boy shook his head vigorously. "No, I don't want to be big again! Don't let them, Harry, please, I don't want to be old."

"He doesn't know what he's saying," Pomona said, "he doesn't understand."

Harry shook his head. "He doesn't want to be an adult. I won't have you turn him back without his consent."

Severus held Harry's shirt in a death grip, terrified that one of the adults would pry him off and force the spell on him.

But the adults didn't dare coming near. Harry literally oozed power. It was very clear that anyone trying to remove Sevvy from him would risk getting very seriously hurt.

Sevvy sniffed. Harry was protecting him, but there were so MANY adults. He wondered if his Daddy had gone mean again. Did he know what the adults were going to do? He didn't want to be big again. Nobody had liked him when he was big, he saw it in how they looked at him when they first met him. And he would have to teach Potions, and he hated potions! His parents were gone, and nobody could force him into brewing them anymore.

Remus had enough. He stepped forward to take the boy from Harry.

Before Harry's magic could spiral out of control, however, Dumbledore interfered.

"Stop it, all of you."

With a defiant look, the werewolf turned to the headmaster. "You are in no position to order us around," he sneered, "besides, you are not Harry's guardian either."

Harry made to respond angrily, but the gleam in the headmaster's eyes held him back.

"No," Dumbledore said, "I'm not Harry's guardian, and I cannot order him to hand over Sevvy. I'm not interfering in my position as Headmaster, which I by the way still hold, either…"

The werewolf stepped up, not chastened by the remark. "Then on what authority DO you interfere, if not as headmaster or guardian?"

"Oh," Dumbledore responded, "I didn't say that. I said I don't interfere as HARRY'S guardian. But I AM interfering as SEVERUS'S guardian."

The shocked gasps caused Harry to smirk slightly. Severus, still glued to Harry, looked over the older boy's shoulder at the headmaster with a bit of fear. What was he going to do?

"Albus…" Minerva started.

Dumbledore produced some papers. "I became Severus's guardian to get the Ministry to release him to me after his trial. Here are the copies. They are perfectly legal. Minor or adult, I'm Sevvy's guardian, and as such I have the right to decide. If Severus does not agree to being re-aged, you will not perform the countercurse."

The angry and confused yells from the rest of the room drowned Harry's and Sevvy's relieved sighs.

"However," Dumbledore continued, looking sternly at the boys, "I will not allow him to make the decision on a whim. Sevvy, you, Harry and me are going to my office and have a long talk about this. We are going to explain to you exactly what you will face if you do not return to your adult self, and what you will face if you do. You must promise me you will listen carefully and think hard before you make up your mind. But, if you do that, then whatever you decide, Harry and I will support."

Harry nodded, sending the headmaster a grateful look. Dumbledore saw the two pairs of eyes, and he knew that what he had just done would earn him a lot of grief from the other adults. He did not care. It had gotten him what he wanted more than anything in the world: the love and respect of the two boys he considered his sons.


	21. Chapter 21

Dumbledore, Harry and Sevvy strode out of the Infirmary and up to the Headmasters office.

Sevvy looked at them anxiously. "Are you really not going to make me if I don't want to?"

The headmaster picked him up and sat on the couch with the boy in his lap. Harry sat down next to them.

"You get to decide, Sevvy," Harry said, "but we want to make sure you won't be sorry."

Sevvy bit his lip. "But if I want to stay small, and I change my mind, you can still do the countercurse, right?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, but if you decide to grow up, we can't de-age you again."

Harry nodded. "And we aren't even sure if this curse will allow you to grow up normally, or if you will stay six forever."

Sevvy looked at him with a confused expression on his face. Harry sighed.

"When the bad snake man turned you into a six year old, he used some sort of old spell. You really are six years old now, even if you were born 36 years ago. That you understand, right?"

Sevvy nodded.

"Now, we are not sure what that curse did. Maybe you will become seven years old, and then eight, and so on, until you are grown up again. Just like any other child. Do you understand?"

"So I would just get big again."

"Maybe. But it could also be that it is a curse that will make you stay six forever. So in ten years, when you should be as big as me, you will still be six. We don't know that yet."

Severus sucked in his lower lip. "Are…are you still going to take care of me?"

Dumbledore put his arms around the boy and cuddled him.

"Sevvy, my child, no matter what, we will always take care of you as long as we live. We promise."

Harry moved closer and took the little hand in his.

"Of course we will be here for you, you're my baby brother," he smiled.

"But, Sevvy, we also don't know what is going to happen to your adult memories. If you stay small, we don't know exactly what will happen. All we know is that we will love you and take care of you."

Dumbledore kissed the small forehead. "We don't know what will happen if you do want Filius and Minerva to do the countercurse. You may forget all about being six years old again, or maybe you will remember. We don't know that. But like Harry just said, we will love you and take care of you then too. No matter what."

Severus sniffed, his eyes full of tears.

"But nobody liked me when I was big! And I taught POTIONS! I don't want to do that again. I don't think I was happy when I was big. It doesn't feel like I was, but I am happy now, with you and Harry, and Ron and Fred and George and Hermione and Circe and…"

The other two chuckled a bit at the whole list, but then Dumbledore pulled him up, turned him over so the small chest was resting against the headmaster's, and the dark head was comfortably lying on his shoulder, the small form nearly completely folded into the purple robes.

"Severus, my boy, you are my son, I loved you when you were an adult and I love you now. You make me so happy and so proud. You are the best son in the whole world, not only now but also when you were big."

"I don't want to be big again, I want to stay six and grow up normally, or maybe have them do the spell when I'm older. I don't want them to do it now, I want to stay small, Daddy, please!"

Harry and Dumbledore exchanged a glance. "Are you absolutely sure, Sevvy?"

The small head nodded vigorously. "Yes Daddy."

Then the dark eyes clouded with worry. "You aren't going to send me away, are you?"

They both hugged him. "Of course not, Sevvy. You will stay here in the castle. You're a very smart boy; you could go to the lessons you like even."

Dumbledore nodded. "You're my son, so you will live with me, and you can see Harry as often as you like, because he will be here to go to school too."

Harry grinned broadly. "Yes, Sevvy, we can still play Quidditch together and I can still read you stories!"

Severus whooped with joy.

"Now, child, through that door are my own rooms. Your room is behind the third door on the left. Why don't you go look at it and tell me what decorations you want."

Sevvy climbed down from his lap and ran off in search of his new room.

Harry looked at the headmaster. "You would have preferred that he had chosen to grow up," the boy concluded.

"Part of me had hoped that, yes," Dumbledore admitted, "because I might not live long enough to see him grow up again. I miss my adult son. But he will be much happier, will have a much better childhood, and that's all I ever wanted for him. A happy life."

Harry hesitated. "Thank you, sir, that you stood up for him. I…I admit I was afraid…that if he had chosen to grow up again…or had been forced to…" he lowered his eyes.

"That you would have lost him? That he would have returned to his angry sarcastic self?" Dumbledore suggested.

"Yes, I feared that," Harry admitted.

"But you wouldn't have forgotten this summer together, and you would still have supported him."

"Of course. I don't think I'd ever have been able to forget the little boy he was. I would have missed Sevvy, but I would still have cared for professor Snape."

"Who might not even have been his old nasty self, Harry. For one, he wouldn't have had to spy anymore."

"He would have killed me if he had retained his memories of this summer," Harry suddenly chuckled, "imagine if he remembered sitting on my lap, being read to. Or crying in my arms after a nightmare. I think he'd rather have destroyed the evidence, namely me."

Dumbledore laughed. "We're in for an interesting time, Harry, with a very clever six year old running around the castle."

Harry nodded. "But…Potions…and Defense…"

Dumbledore hesitated. "I wanted to ask Remus to return to Defense, but after his display in the Infirmary just now I'm not sure."

Harry shrugged. "He was the best defense teacher we had. And he can't do anything now that I'm emancipated. Except hand out detentions. He might try to abuse his position as a teacher though, as much as I hate to say it."

"I wouldn't let him," Dumbledore asssured him quickly, "I will make that very clear to him. But yes, he is the best teacher available. So if you really don't mind…"

Harry shook his head. "I think Remus and I will eventually sort out our differences. He'll get used to the adult me eventually," he smiled wryly.

"As for Potions…there are no others as good as Severus, but we don't need another Potions Master per se. Just someone with enough skill to teach."

"Bill Weasley graduated with an Outstanding Potions NEWT," Harry offered, "and he could teach a class on cursebreaking and warding as well. There'll be plenty of students interested in that."

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "Good point. I will ask him. Now, Harry…shall we go see if our boy has managed to decorate his room in Slytherin colors yet?"

_-Later-_

"So that's how it is. Severus will not be re-aged. He will stay here and live with me."

Minerva smiled gently. "I'm glad, Albus."

Several of the others stared at her in shock.

"Well, I am!" she said, annoyed, "we all have an inkling, some more then others, of what life has been like for Severus. Did you see how happy he is? Just look at that photo," she pointed to the picture Albus had brought back from the amusement park.

"Have you ever seen either of those boys that happy and carefree? If he wants to stay that way for a while, or until he grows up again naturally, I say we let him."

Flitwick and Arthur nodded their agreement.

"You know we'd have loved to take him in, Albus," Arthur said, his eyes going soft, "but he needs a lot of attention to get over his past, and you are better suited to give him that than we are, with seven other children."

Remus sulked. "I trust that Harry will listen to reason now that the boy is in your care?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Remus, Bill, Minerva, I would like to speak with you for a moment."

When the others had cleared out, Dumbledore turned to the three remaining Order members.

"Minerva, thank you so much for all you have done this summer. You'll make an amazing headmistress when I retire. I wanted to ask you, if you are prepared to take over a little more of my work this year? I've discovered I can't do everything on my own," he admitted wryly.

"And I need to spend time with Severus as well. I have a child to look after now. If you like, we can arrange an apprentice for you to help you out with the younger students."

Minerva nodded her consent. "Of course, Albus. I had been thinking about that myself, and I recently received a letter from one of last years graduates asking if I would consider taking an apprentice."

"Good," Dumbledore beamed. Then he turned to Bill.

"I heard you are skilled at Potions, and I am adding an elective course on cursebreaking and warding to the curriculum. Would you be interested to teach those subjects?"

Bill's eyes widened. "I…well…" He seemed a little doubtful.

"I don't need your answer right away," Dumbledore reassured him, "soon, but not right away. Sleep on it and let me know what you decide before the weekend, will you?"

"Remus," he finally turned to the last member of the small group, "I have thought long and hard about the DADA position. You are without doubt the best qualified, but your behavior worries me. I know you miss Sirius, and you want to be closer to Harry, but my boy, you only succeed in driving him away if you continue like this."

Remus bowed his head. He would have loved the DADA position, since he still couldn't get a job, but Dumbledore was right. He had been pushing Harry because he felt lost without Sirius. The last of his friends had gone, and he was left with nothing but memories.

Receiving a quick unspoken request from Dumbledore, Bill and Minerva quietly left. Dumbledore sat in front of Remus.

"Child, I know. It has been very hard on you. But you are going about it the wrong way. Believe me, I have gained some experience with that recently."

He reached out and tipped the werewolf's chin up so he could look him in the eye.

"I'm going to give you the DADA position. You are a good teacher. Between the two of them, Hermione and Bill will be able to sort out the Wolfsbane problem. But there are two conditions: first that you act civil towards both Harry and Severus. No abusing your position to take revenge. And secondly, you are going to have a few chats with the Grey Lady."

He sighed. "This isn't like you, Remus, this unreliable, sulky, heartless behavior. I understand it, but it can't continue."

Remus hesitated. "I…I miss…Sirius so much," he admitted softly, "I just wanted…to keep Harry close…and at the same time, I can't…can't bear to be around him, and see James and Lily in him…I'm so confused…"

Reaching over, Dumbledore pulled the younger man in a hug.

"It'll be ok. I'll be here to help you, I promise. The Grey Lady will help you. She is quite amazing, although I don't always appreciate her patting my hand in sympathy…"

Chuckling slightly, Remus consented and promised to do his best.

Dumbledore sat back after his last new professor had left and smiled as he looked at the picture of Harry and Severus. He lazily undid the Silencing charm and closed his eyes, enjoying the happy screams of the excited boys.

_-Summer house-_

The Weasley boys and Hermione looked up in surprise when Harry entered with a still six years old Severus.

The boy ran towards them. "I can stay six! Daddy and Harry let me stay six! I don't have to grow up and teach potions, and I get to live at Hogwarts with you all and Daddy and I can bring Circe, Daddy said, and I can stay here until the new term starts…"

Fred and George snorted.

"Slow down, little one…"

"it's a bit hard…"

"to follow at this pace."

Harry laughed, a happy, carefree, unstrained laugh.

"Severus will live with Albus after the holidays, but until we go back to Hogwarts, we can stay here. Sevvy will even get to go to class, and graduate before he is ten," Harry teased.

Sevvy smiled happily. "Daddy says he'll let me get sorted so I can go to classes I like. And I can still play Quidditch with you all!"

His lower lip disappeared between his teeth again.

"But you want to play with your friends," he said sadly.

Ron picked him up and threw him in the air, catching him flawlessly. It was a game Sevvy loved and he squealed happily.

"We will be playing Quidditch with our friends, but we will always make time to play with you too," he said, throwing the boy in the air again.

"And we will send you…"

"our new gags to try out…"

"on unsuspecting students and teachers." The twins said,

Hermione groaned.

Severus walked over and patted her hand. "Don't worry, Mione, I won't use the one that dyes your hair purple," he said sweetly.

The boys looked away, trying not to laugh, and Hermione did her best to glare. Finally she gave in and chuckled as well.

"We need to have a party," Fred decided.

"We need to celebrate this wonderful news," George immediately agreed.

"And how do we do that?" they asked the small boy, who grinned from ear to ear.

"We Floo Florean, and have him send us an icecream and pie dinner!" the boy cried happily.

_-September first- _

"Are you ready, Sevvy?"

"I'm a bit scared. What if they laugh at me?"

"They won't," Harry reassured him.

They were standing in the Entrance Hall, listening to the sounds of the First Years being Sorted through the wooden doors.

"…and finally," they heard the headmaster say, "we will Sort a special young man, who you will see frequently around the school. I trust you will treat him kindly. Even though you all knew him, you will need to make his acquaintance again. This boy is six years old, and was formerly your potions master. My son, Severus."

The stunned silence was deafening.

Harry smiled at the boy who was holding his hand tightly.

"Ready to get Sorted?" he asked.

Severus nodded.

"Come on then, kiddo. You're going to have the time of your life here."

Together, they walked into the quiet Hall, through the rows of students. Severus smiled at Harry, let go of his hand, and walked up to the Sorting hat under the proud gaze of his father and his brother.

The End.

**A/N the end of part one of the trilogy. Hope you enjoyed it. The next part will be about Sevvy's new life at Hogwarts. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews!**


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